


Prolusion

by love_killed_the_superstar



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gem Egg Hell, Gemlings, no actual oviposition/eggpreg though, rusa is only a minor plot though lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3920932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_killed_the_superstar/pseuds/love_killed_the_superstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I didn't want you to know. I don't want you to think less of me, or your mother, for what we did all those years ago.”<br/>“I won't think less of you, I promise,” he urged, scooting closer. “Please talk to me, Pearl.”<br/>She took a deep breath to calm herself, before turning to him. Her face was flooding a pale blue, and her lips trembled.<br/>“W-Well... I don't think we've ever talked to you about, um... g-gem reproduction, have we, Steven?”<br/>His jaw dropped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Bubbles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the prologue of the first rosepearl gem egg hell fic i've seen?? how is that these two are so compatible  
> anyway, I've been talking about this on tumblr for about a month or something? (see the tag 'rosepearl eggfic' for some of the posts i've made talking about it) and here it finally is. it's been harder to get it started than to write the later chapters so hopefully I'll update again soon?  
> Enjoy~

Steven couldn't stop thinking about the rose quartz bubbles he'd seen.

It had been another typical day of hanging out in Amethyst's room, lying around and occasionally leaping off of piles of junk into the variety of shallow pools below. After climbing out of the fifth pool he had dived into, Steven spotted a smaller puddle and decided to investigate. It took him less than a moment after sticking his head through to realise he was in the room storing bubbled gems, and he vowed he was willingly going to leave immediately, when a rose quartz bubble caught his eye. Inside was a small gem, glimmering where the faint glow from the crystal heart lit it. Squinting, he studied the gem inside for a few moments before his eyes widened in disbelief.

Without a doubt, it was a pink quartz gem. Could it be a rose quartz? He couldn't tell for sure, but it sure looked like the gem nestled in his navel. Beside it was another rose bubble, with another gem that was more pearl-shaped, although it held the same colour as the gem in the first bubble. A little further back, what looked to be a gem nearly identical to Pearl's sat quaintly in a bubble, a comfortable distance away from the other two.

A strong hand yanked him out of the puddle by the back of his shirt.

“Steven, I've told you before not to look in there,” Amethyst scolded. “We're not allowed in there, you understand?”

Steven nodded. “Sorry, Amethyst.” As she headed back over to her junk pile, a thought occurred to him. “Hey, Amethyst? Are there other gems, like us?”

She snorted. “Uh, yeah? Didn't Peridot already give you the memo? There are tons of other gems out there.”

“No, no, I mean like... other amethysts, other pearls, other... rose quartz gems.”

Her eyes narrowed. “...Why are you asking this, Steven?” she asked, voice laced with suspicion.

“Well,” he began nervously, “there was, uh, when I put my head through, th-there was a bubble in front of me, and the gem inside looked like mine.”

“That's – that's nothing to worry about!” Amethyst stretched out her arms, face overly agitated. “Come on, Steven, lets – lets go out. Get fries!”

Protesting, Steven reluctantly allowed Amethyst to steer him out of the temple, sparing a glance back at the puddle as he was pushed away. The house was empty, void of any scathing looks from Pearl or silent berating from Garnet over needless transformations, so with a swish of her hair Amethyst shapeshifted into a lion, picking Steven up by the back of his shirt in her large feline jaws and tossing him onto her back.

“You're going to make Lion jealous,” Steven giggled, patting her silver mane. “Where are you taking me?”

“To the board walk! Fries, pizza, doughnuts, whatever you want, buddy! Lets do it!”

In the back of his mind Steven could tell that Amethyst was trying to create a distraction so he'd stop asking questions, but that only made him curiouser. Making a note to himself to ask one of the others about the gems later, Steven humoured Amethyst and allowed her to have her fun, ordering her to charge down the beach and into the swarm of seagulls below, whooping and cheering as they scattered while Amethyst let out a roar.

Yes, he'd keep her happy for now, until he could get answers elsewhere.

 

…

 

“So _are_ there other gems like us, Amethyst?”

“Ugh, you're still on about that?” Amethyst groaned. The two had gone for doughnuts, fries and half a pizza each (Amethyst had eaten what Steven couldn't finish) and Amethyst had assumed that would be enough to subdue him, but now that they were back in the house he'd remembered there were still burning questions he wanted to ask.

“Oh come on, tell me?” Steven pleaded, pouting. “Come on, Amethyst. I saw two gems in there, and one looked like my gem, and one looked like Pearl's. I already know the answer. I just want to know why you don't want me knowing!”

“You don't know anything about it, Steven,” Amethyst snapped. She sighed. “Ugh. Listen, bud, I don't want to get in trouble with Pearl and Garnet over this, so can we just pretend like you never saw anything? I should have been watching you better, I should have known you'd stick your head in that puddle again.”

“Why would you get in trouble with Pearl and Garnet? Don't they know those gems are in there?” Steven asked, wide-eyed. Amethyst exhaled loudly.

“It's not my biz to tell you, Steven. I mean, it's not like those gems are mi-”

Catching herself in time, she shut her mouth, folding her arms. Steven leaned closer.

“What were you going to say?”

“Nothing!” She pursed her lips. “It's Pearl's business, and if I told you anything she'd kick my ass.”

“I-I don't think Pearl would do... that,” Steven ventured, a little embarrassed.

“I wouldn't do what?”

Startled, Steven turned around. Pearl was standing in the doorway, bags of groceries in her hands.

“Nothing!” Amethyst slung an arm around Steven, pulling him close to her. “Just me and Steven messing around, the usual.”

“Okay...?” Frowning, Pearl shrugged, heading over to the cupboards and beginning to unpack the bags. Amethyst gave Steven a warning look, which he chose to ignore.

“Hey, Pearl? Are there other gems like us?”

Amethyst clapped a hand over Steven's mouth as Pearl turned to glance over at him quizzically. “Well, it's possible, I suppose,” she said absent-mindedly, continuing to unload the bags. “Earth certainly isn't the only planet once controlled by gems so it's possible there were other rebellions and thus other survivors, like us.”  
“That's not what I mean,” Steven responded, wriggling out of Amethyst's grip. “I mean, are there other amethysts? Other pearls? Other rose quartz gems?”

She froze.

“Steven, come on,” urged Amethyst, tugging his arm. “Lets go back to my room, we can – we can do more junk pile diving or something-”

“Why are you asking about this, Steven?” Pearl asked quietly, leaning against the counter tiredly. “Amethyst, let go of him. I want to hear what he has to say.”

“Am I in trouble?” Steven asked, glancing between Amethyst and Pearl anxiously. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked-”

“You're not in trouble,” Pearl responded calmly, watching him with an unreadable expression. “Why are you asking about this?”

“I... I looked into the bubble room by accident again,” he admitted, lowering his head in shame. “I'm really sorry. I saw these bubbles. One looked like my gem. And... there was another one there, it looked like yours. I was wondering if they were the same as us, or if I just made a mistake.”

Amethyst stared at Pearl. Pearl stared at Steven.

Silence fell over them.

“I...” Pearl glanced over at Amethyst, who held her hands up in defence.

“I told him not to ask, P! I swear I told him not to! Steven, come on, please just drop it,” she pleaded.

“You saw them?” Pearl clasped her hands together, trying to hide the way they were shaking. “Oh... I never wanted you to see them... Oh, goodness...”

Amethyst crept over to her, reaching for her hand. “Come on, P, lets go back to your room. Steven, go watch TV or something,” she said sternly, casting him a warning look. Steven approached Pearl slowly, feeling small.

He reached out to her. “Pearl?”

“I'm sorry, Steven.” She pulled away from him, brow furrowed. “I have to think. I'll be a while.”

Amethyst led her away, motioning for Steven to go to his room. She gave him a small smile as reassurance, before the temple door shut behind them. Pearl never looked back.

Steven was alone.

 

…

 

The next time he listened in, Garnet was present in the conversation. It was late, and he should really have been sleeping, but he could hear them from inside the temple, raised voices and all.

“You should have been keeping watch over him, Amethyst!” Garnet's tone was firm, scolding.

“I told him not to bring it up! He just kept bugging me about it!” Amethyst defended, and Steven could almost hear her hand gestures. “I'm sorry, P. I didn't think they'd be so close to the puddle... they must have shifted the last time we bubbled some gems.”

“I didn't want him to know.” Pearl's voice sounded small, defeated, and Steven had to strain to hear it. “I hoped he wouldn't ever find out. If he finds out about any of that...”

“Uh, I think he already knows on some level, Pearl,” Amethyst pointed out, laughing uneasily. “I mean, you _do_ always gush about Rose at every opportunity you get. And he's a sweet kid. It won't bother him.”

“How do you know that?” she cried. “If Steven found out about what happened-”

“He would love you anyway,” Garnet's voice reassured, her voice firm. “You aren't at fault for what happened. I don't think Rose would have wanted you to feel so pressured to keep quiet about it.”

When Pearl next spoke, her voice was wavering. “I have no idea what Rose would have wanted.”

“Oh, geez,” came Amethyst's voice, though her tone was gentler than usual. “Don't cry, P. Steven's a good kid. He wouldn't... think any less of you.”

“In the end, it's your decision whether or not to tell him and we'll respect your wishes. But if you're holding back because you're afraid of Steven's judgement, remember this is Steven we're talking about here.” Garnet's voice was laced with warmth. “He'll understand.”

“I don't want him to think that I betrayed him,” Pearl murmured. “By not telling him about the gems, I mean.”

“You have your reasons.”

The door to the temple opened and Steven hid under the covers. Moments later the door closed again, but soft footsteps told him Pearl was coming up.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he allowed for his breathing to slow, taking even breaths to mimic the sound of sleep. A gentle presence dented the mattress, and he could feel Pearl sitting beside him, watching him. She stared at him for a while, sometimes resting a hand on his hair for a few moments before pulling away again. This cycle continued a few times, before Steven decided the easiest way to help her talk was to use force. He stirred, taking a few moments to tune into the feeling of her body tensing before slowly opening his eyes.

“Pearl?” he muttered, pushing himself upright. She stood up quickly.

“Ah – sorry, Steven, sorry, I – I know you don't like me watching you anymore,” she began, wringing her hands. “I'll go.”

“No.” He reached out and grabbed her arm. “I... I'm sorry for asking you about those bubbled gems, Pearl. Are you still mad?”

She glanced around nervously, before cautiously sitting down again. “Steven. I was never mad, I... was just in shock, that's all.” Pearl's appearance was unusually unkempt, her hair a mess as though she had been running her fingers through it, her body jittery. “I didn't ever want you to see those. I don't know why I thought I could keep it from you, it's just I haven't thought about them for so long. Not since you were a baby.”

“Are they special to you? Did me asking make you unhappy?” Steven squeezed her hand and she squeezed back, smiling faintly.

“They are special to me. They're from a long time ago. They were special to all of us, but especially so to me and... and your mother.” She looked away, staring down at the warp pad. “I didn't want you to know. I don't want you to think less of me, or your mother, for what we did all those years ago.”

Steven's mind whirred, remembering the state Pearl had gotten into when she found out his mother had kept secrets from her. He didn't fully understand it, but their close relationship was obvious, and part of him was burning to find out the full story behind it.

“I won't think less of you, I promise,” he urged, scooting closer. “Please talk to me, Pearl.”

She took a deep breath to calm herself, before turning to him. Her face was flooding a pale blue, and her lips trembled.

“W-Well... I don't think we've ever talked to you about, um... g-gem reproduction, have we, Steven?”

His jaw dropped.

“Gems can do that too?! Why did they build Kindergarten then?”

“It's... not a very orthodox method of creating gems,” she explained, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Gems aren't generally... affectionate. It's rare for gems to be so intimate that it can take place. Not to mention fertility rate in gems is extremely low. That's the reason Kindergartens were built. Survival rates were higher and since the reproduction was asexual the donor gems weren't seen as inferior because of it.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Steven agreed, absorbing the information. “But what does this have to do with you and my mom?”

She hesitated, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

“A long time ago, Rose and I... reproduced.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN  
> more coming soon hopefully, leave a comment if you have any suggestions/feedback~ :)


	2. Morganite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So you and Mom made... geodes...?”  
> “That's right.”  
> He stared down at his hands, absorbing this information. When he glanced up again, his eyes were brimming with curiosity.  
> “So how did it happen?” he asked. “How did you and Mom... make geodes? How did that happen?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, the first chapter!! i was stuck on it for ages. in the end i was like 'i bet i'm not going to finish this until i'm already back at college' but somehow i managed to spit out the rest of the chapter in just a few hours after i'd made that resolve. amazing.
> 
> Morganite based off of the design here because I love it so much: http://crimpeekodraws.tumblr.com/post/115733788429/rose-quartz-and-pearl-fusion-prompt-morganite
> 
> thank you so much to the people on tumblr who helped me decide on a weapon for morganite!!

“A long time ago, Rose and I... reproduced.”

Steven stared at Pearl, mouth hanging open. She watched him in silence, wringing her hands nervously, waiting for the impending reaction.

Several moments passed.

“Um... Steven?” she ventured as he continued to stare in utter amazement. His eyes were like saucers.

“Y-You and my mom...?”

“Er, yes.”

“You reproduced?” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, his expression growing uncomfortable. “Like... the way _humans_ do?”

Oh, dear. Pearl's cheeks flamed.

“Wh-What?! Of _course_ not, Steven, gem reproduction is nothing like-!” She collected herself and took a deep breath. “No, Steven. Gem reproduction doesn't work that way. It involves, um... two or more gems coming into intimate contact.” An illusion formed in her gem and projected outwards, showing two faceless gems bowing before spinning towards each other, as though readying to fuse. As they met in the middle the gems, both located on the chests to make for a more simple explanation, began to glow. “Sometimes, although not always, a geode is formed.” From the two gems meeting, a small globe representing a geode sprouted between them. “That's how it happens. It's a complex process, all down to compatibility of gems and how strong the emotions are. So no, it is nothing like human reproduction.”

“Oh.” Steven looked a little relieved, and Pearl exhaled, thanking the stars that Steven was willing to accept the answer without any further questions on the matter of sexual relations. “So you and Mom made... _geodes_...?”

“That's right.”

He stared down at his hands, absorbing this information. When he glanced up again, his eyes were brimming with curiosity.

“So how did it happen?” he asked. “How did you and Mom... make geodes? How did that happen?”

 

…

 

It was time to head out again.

The mission was simple – the Locket of Wrath was allegedly located on a small, inconspicuous island in the north pacific ocean, one of Blue Diamond's secondary bases designed to blend in with the surrounding environment. Garnet had predicted it causing trouble for the surrounding seas if they didn't retrieve it soon, and the last thing they wanted was for the sailors to further provoke an already malevolent gem artefact. It had already caused two shipwrecks, but it wasn't until now that they'd been able to define the location of the offender. Fortunately after the rebellion a warp pad had been built, so it wasn't a stretch to reach the location of the artefact.

“I'm just amazed we didn't see it the last time we cleaned out the island,” Rose Quartz commented as they gathered on the warp pad. “I know it was over a thousand years ago, but I didn't expect it to be dormant for so long. Maybe there was a timing charm on it?”

“It's possible that it wasn't there originally,” Garnet pointed out, stoic as ever. “It could have travelled a distance, carried by the ocean.”

“Whatever the reason,” Pearl said impatiently, “lets go there now and retrieve it before it causes even more trouble. The last thing we need is more humans getting themselves hurt as a result.”

“Fine,” groaned Amethyst, emerging from her room at last. “But ships get wrecked all the time. Destroying the locket won't change that.”

“Maybe not, but it will lessen the number of deaths caused in that ocean,” Garnet deadpanned. “And that's what matters.”

On that note of finality they warped, landing on a quaint island crawling with crystals that the natives had taken to calling Mask Island. The white sand, clear waters and impressive crystals made for a picturesque sight to behold, but the lack of disturbance was a little unnerving.

Pearl turned to Garnet. “You said it was active again?”

“I predicted it would be causing trouble _soon_. It's uncertain whether or not the locket has already activated.”

“Well, there's no use standing around and talking about it,” Rose voiced, blowing her fringe out of her eyes. “Garnet, Amethyst, you survey the waters. Pearl and I will track the island.”

“Got it!”

Amethyst shapeshifted easily into a shark, burying herself deep in the waves, and Garnet followed suit, nodding at Rose slightly before disappearing under the water. Rose turned to Pearl, hands planted on her hips.

“Let's go.”

“Of course.”

The objective was simple – find the locket, bubble it, leave. How hard would it be to track down a locket, anyway?

Apparently, very hard. Rose was on her knees, sifting through dirt and ferns warily while Pearl checked the shores of the island, turning over rocks and driftwood.

“Found anything yet?” Rose called.

“Nothing,” Pearl replied, deflated. The locket could be anywhere. Garnet had pinpointed the location to a small perimeter surrounding the island, so it should have been found by now.

“Maybe Garnet and Amethyst have it already,” Rose offered cheerfully, continuing to search anyway. Pearl nodded, making no effort to reply. The sun was shining but her mood couldn't be more sour.

As she peered around the side of a large red rock face, Pearl scanned the area, pausing as Rose made a triumphant sound.

“Aha! _There_ it – wait a minute-”

She froze as a deep roar ripped through the trees. Pearl craned her neck in the direction of the sound, and saw a flash of pink light from behind the trees, met with the sound of a blunt object hitting an impenetrable force.

“Augh – Pearl! The locket, it-it held a corrupted gem!”

Dropping the search, Pearl raced down the beach, pulling a spear from her gem as she ran. Rose's shield was out, holding out against a large, enraged creature, scaly yet feathered, a sort of corrosive plasm dripping from its beak. A broken chain lay abandoned at her feet. As Rose turned to Pearl in relief, she missed the drop of plasm that was beginning to corrode her shield, a small but definite hole now present.

“Rose, your shield!” Pearl cried, before leaping up to plunge her spear into its chest. The creature appeared mildly unaffected, although the stab bought Rose enough time to abandon her current shield and summon a new one. The two exchanged looks as the creature extended its neck, reaching for Pearl's spear and snapping it in its beak.

“My spear,” Pearl grumbled, reaching into her gem to pull out a new one. As she did so, the creature flicked its tail, sending her sailing through the air, only to smack against a tree. Rose quickly summoned her sword, leaping high into the air and plummeting downwards, sword raised. It howled in pain as Rose took out its eyes, shaking the corrosive substance from her sword before it had time to set. Pearl climbed onto the branch she had slammed into, reaching for another spear and throwing it in the general direction. Neither of them had encountered a creature of this formation before, so it made sense to experiment to see what attacks affected the stability of the corrupted gem.

“My sword does seem to do the trick,” Rose commented as Pearl jumped down to land gracefully beside her, “but I don't know about how long it will take us to subdue it.” She paused. “Maybe... maybe Morganite would be able to take care of things.”

Pearl's jaw dropped. “Morganite?! But Rose... this is a serious mission, a-and I don't know if I'll be able to hold together long enough-”

“Pearl.” Rose's voice was firm. “I trust you. I know fusion isn't one of your strengths but Morganite might be able to accomplish what we can't do separately.”

“I suppose her weapon _would_ be useful in order to take it out quickly,” Pearl said uncertainly. The creature snapped Pearl's second spear into pieces, crunching it in its beak. She reached for another one effortlessly, throwing it and successfully lodging it in the throat of the beast. It whined in dismay and desperately attempted to dislodge the spear, but its failed attempts bought them enough time to stand apart, allowing their gems to glow as they prepared the fusion dance.

“Are you sure of this, Rose?” Pearl asked, twirling gracefully towards her dance partner. Rose glided closer, taking her hand.

“I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise, Pearl,” she said warmly, spinning her. They took a few graceful steps, ignoring the furious screeches of their opposer, before Rose dipped Pearl, their gems illuminated. As they touched, Pearl's gem flooded with warmth, surprising her. Had fusion always felt this way? Maybe she was just imagining it. After all, it wasn't often that she fused with Rose, so perhaps her excitement was making her feel things that weren't there.

In a brilliant flash, their bodies fused, the two of them becoming one, their new form growing taller, leaner. A thin lace spilled from her shoulders, flowing down her body and rolling at her feet like waves. Her hair coiled down in a ponytail held high on her head, while her four arms stretched out, her fingers poised ready to summon her weapon. Both gems glinted as she opened her eyes, shaking a hand cautiously.

“I feel good,” she exclaimed, her voice an octave between Rose and Pearl's, warm and bubbly. “This is... good!”

Oh dear, why had Morganite inherited her habit of talking her own ear off? Pearl cringed from somewhere inside, although if Rose was bothered by it she didn't say anything.

“Okay then!” she announced, a spring in her step as she surveyed the corrupted gem before her, thrashing around and crunching Pearl's spear in victory, finally having dislodged it from its throat. “I should, er, I should take care of this!”

Pearl always felt safer when she was Morganite. Fusion was more than simply joining, it was mixing, attributes flowing into one another, combining, melding into one mind, one form. Morganite was skittish but brave, evening out Rose's natural confidence and Pearl's unshakable insecurities. She was daring where Pearl was hesitant, but meek where Rose was certain. There was part of Pearl that regretted hindering Rose in this way when they were fused, but possessing Rose's strong sense of self was comforting, even if only for a little while. It was strange, but when they were fused, Morganite felt that she could do anything.

Rose always felt like she was falling when she was Morganite. Fusion enabled every secret to be exposed, every trait to mix or clash. Every fibre of her being was Pearl's, as every inch of Pearl was now hers too. When she was Morganite, she felt Pearl's anxieties hitting her at full speed, her mind ticking where it was normally calm, the worst-case scenario startling her before she had time to even process a plan. Rose wasn't used to feeling so lost, so unsure of herself, so when she was Morganite it felt hard to hang onto herself, the fear of being lost in Morganite forever keeping her from slipping away. Normally she was good at fusing, but Pearl struggled with it, and that usually led to Morganite being unstable, something to be feared. Pearl knew how Rose felt, of course, it was impossible to hide things during the process of fusion, but for once both found that they weren't afraid of the consequences of becoming Morganite anymore. For the first time, she felt stable. Whole. Like she could do anything.

“Sure about this?” she wondered aloud, fingers flexing in anticipation. “I don't have the best aim.” A hand reached for her stomach, extracting a pink blade which glinted in her grip. “I'm sure. I feel great. I can do this!” Another hand reached for her forehead, pulling out a pale spear. “But this is so risky...”

Two hands met, two weapons touched, and in a flash of light they were gone, replaced by a pale pink lance with thorns engraved down the shaft, the vamplate shaped like a budding rose. Morganite always found herself drawn to her weapon, always found her gaze wandering to it in the midst of attacks, a small, pearl-shaped part of her yearning for them to stay together forever, so the lance would always be there to hold in her hands. It fit so perfectly she could hardly stand it, sometimes. Every time it broke apart inside an enemy she found herself mourning its loss.

“Focus!” The word, so often used by Pearl, sounded of Rose when spilling from Morganite's lips. “We get one chance at this, but if we do it right it'll be perfect.”

Morganite took a few steps back as the corrupted gem spread its wings, screeching. It was a signal of war, and Morganite was ready for it.

Her legs were strong, and she charged with her lance poised, ready to strike. There was a gruesome cry as she thrust the lance forward, striking the beast through the middle. It howled as the lance began to break apart inside it, and with a blinding flash the creature vanished, a deep red stone in its place.

“Fascinating,” Morganite marvelled, dusting herself off before reaching down to bubble the gem. “I wonder where its gem was hidden on its body? I didn't spot it during the fight.”

She hugged herself, legs rubbing together, Pearl peeking out for just a moment. “I've never held on for so long before. Maybe-”

_-we fit better together than we thought._

She couldn't say that. Rose already knew what she was about to say though – they were fused, how could she not? - and a warm bubble of laughter escaped her throat. Morganite was laughing now, holding onto her stomach with one pair of arms, hiding her face with the other two. It was so intimate. Whose hands were touching which gem? Neither of them knew. They were one. She was herself.

“Maybe so.” There were unspoken feelings, fleeting bursts of warmth, affection, fondness, that neither could voice aloud. So Morganite took a step forward, skipping a little, landed on the beach and stretched. She dared a glance at her form, and it was magnificent.

“Should I call it a day?” she asked. The answer seemed obvious, but there was hesitance. Finally, she nodded. “I think so. Maybe... another time.”

She hugged her torso, soft laughter in her throat.

“Of course.”

When they unfused, Rose spun round to grin at Pearl, smile radiant.

“We held together so well, Pearl! Can you believe that?”

Pearl took a step back, swaying slightly. Her vision had doubled, and she blinked furiously to try and steady herself. It was rare for her to feel so weak – maybe she was just overwhelmed from staying fused for so long, since she didn't have the best track record for holding together stable fusions. Rose peered at her in concern.

“Pearl, are you all right?”

“Y-Yes, of course,” she stammered, taking a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, her vision was clear, and she reached for Rose's hand. “That was marvellous. We really did make a stable fusion, didn't we?”

“We sure did.” Rose leaned down and planted a kiss on Pearl's gem, which was still feeling tingly. She pulled back quickly. “Wow, your gem is warm. Are you okay? Maybe Morganite overworked us a bit too much.”

“I'm fine,” Pearl insisted, blushing at the kiss. “At least we solved the problem of the amulet.” She stared down at the broken chain. “Do you think a human removed the gem from the chain?”

“It's possible,” Rose agreed, picking it up and taking it into her gem. “I'll analyse it when we return to the temple, try and figure out exactly what happened. Lets just be thankful that nobody was injured.”

The two headed back to the warp pad, hands loosely entwined.

“Did you find it?” Amethyst asked, switching back to her signature form before running out of the water and tackling Rose in a hug, nearly knocking both her and Pearl over in the process. Rose began to laugh, holding her soaking wet body at arm's length.

“That's right. We took care of it, though. It was a corrupted gem. We're still trying to figure out how it broke free of the seal – whether it was a human's doing or otherwise.”

“We can examine it back at the temple,” Garnet stated, approaching the group. “But for now, lets go back to the temple. Maybe you can try to heal it.”

Rose's shoulders sagged a little at that. “You know my efforts have been fruitless so far, Garnet.”

Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder. “So far doesn't mean forever. We'll work things out together.”

As Amethyst tapped her face with her hand good-naturedly and Pearl squeezed her arm, Rose's face broke out into a smile.

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

…

 

“...Do gems always make geodes by fusing?” Steven asked. Pearl shook her head.

“Not always, Steven. That's usually the case, but sometimes it can happen through other means. And it's a rare occurrence, even if it happens most commonly through fusion. It's not something you'll have to think about, I promise.”

Steven paused. “...So, since you fused and that made the geodes, did both of you have them, or just one of you?”

“It was, um, just me.” Pearl glanced around, as though expecting one of the others to be listening in. She conjured an illusion from her gem once more, displaying the same faceless gems as before, standing side by side with their hands entwined. “You see, often, the gems play different roles. There is usually a donor gem-” The figure with a small green gem raised a hand, “and there is a carrier gem.” The other figure, with a blue gem to differentiate the two, raised its free hand. “The donor gem will simply – how to put this – they'll... transfer the necessary data and energy to produce the geodes, while the carrier gem will manifest the geodes in the inner sanctum of their gem until the time comes for them to be extracted.”

“I see.” Steven frowned, absorbing the information. “Does this mean Mom was like... the dad?”

“Gems don't use terms like mother and father when referring to geode formation,” Pearl said hastily, quick to steer Steven away from introducing gender roles into her and Rose's relationship. “So no, absolutely not. Although in human terms, I suppose the donor gem _would_ typically play a similar role to that of a human father in the gestation process, at least.”

Not that they had ever discussed this. The closest thing that could be compared was a conversation they had once had during Rose's pregnancy, sitting on the beach at twilight.

 

…

 

“Do you remember our gemlings, my dear Pearl?” Rose asked. Pearl flinched at the mention and turned to her quickly.

“Ah – yes, of course. But why are you...?”

They had agreed to move on. They'd promised not to speak of it again.

“It's funny,” Rose sighed, moving her hand to rest upon her stomach. She had only just started to show, but to Pearl is stuck out as plainly as an expiration date – as if the impending knowledge that their time was running short was torture enough, now there was a physical reminder. Pearl tried to avoid looking when she could, but somehow she felt that right now it was what Rose wanted her to focus on. “I remember it so clearly. You had so much to adjust to, and I had to sit by idly and watch with no way of helping you along the way. Looking at how things are now, it almost feels like a role-reversal.”

There was a smile on her face that made Pearl's eyes prick, threatening tears. She looked away, staring out at the ocean instead.

“What I had to endure – that's nothing compared to this. You know that.”

“That's not true,” Rose said quickly, moving her hand to rest atop of Pearl's. “While it's true that our circumstances are different, we've both been in this situation. Carrying our children, carrying our hopes and dreams for them too, and not knowing what the future holds – we have both been here. Now, we know what it's like to be on both sides of that feeling.”

“My life was never at stake, Rose,” Pearl said, and her voice came out so harshly that she could hardly believe it herself. She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears, and Rose instinctively pulled her in closer. Feeling the curve of Rose's stomach dig into her side only made her cry harder.

“And yet we still panicked and cried and tiptoed around the subject as though it was,” Rose sighed, her voice filled with adoration. “We are so alike in our experiences, you and I.”

 

…

 

Of course, Pearl definitely couldn't recall that conversation to Steven.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, looks like pearl's up the spout  
> i've never written a fusion aside from garnet before so it was actually a lot more fun than i thought it would be. i should do this more often  
> stay tuned for next chapter: the gems will be finding out these lil geodes are cooking, so look out for it soon! leave feedback~


	3. Headache, Gemache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Like human gestation, gem formation comes with its own set of ailments,” Pearl began, shuddering a little at the memory. “Symptoms, I suppose. If I hadn't shown any signs of my gem harbouring geodes Garnet probably wouldn't have figured it out, and we would have been completely unaware of the circumstances until the time came for extraction.”  
> “That'd be bad, huh?” Steven agreed, peering up at her. “So what were the symptoms, anyway?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is consuming my life. i can't remember the last time i updated a fic so quickly  
> so this turned out to be twice the size of chapter 1 oops (not that you guys mind)  
> all I can say is... poor pearl haha  
> i wrote a ton of this around the time i was coming up with the idea so idk if you guys will be able to notice the change in style of some parts but here it is. as i wrote the rosepearl scene at the end i was listening to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHiKu5Fbmiw

“Would I ever be able to carry geodes, since I'm a boy?”

Pearl paused to consider this.

“Um... I don't know. I don't think your biological sex has anything to do with the probability of you manifesting geodes, but since you're half-human we don't know if your gem would react to other gems in the same way, or if your gem has the same capacities as ours.” She reached over to put a hand to his hair, running her fingers over the tight curls. “At your age, creating geodes shouldn't be on your agenda anyway, Steven.”

He laughed and wriggled away from her hand. “I know that, I'm just asking.”

Part of Pearl had hoped that Steven would have become bored by this point, or tired out enough for her to continue telling this story another time, but his attention was captured. It made sense, she supposed – they were always finding excuses to avoid talking about Rose so the fact that she was telling him a story about their time together in such a vivid fashion probably felt to him like a whole other side of the gems and their lives. It probably fascinated him, and a tale of his mother was something he probably wanted to treasure.

She remembered the day he had come home with that video tape from Rose. She had seen the way his eyes twinkled like stars, how he had rushed over to them, still in his pyjamas (she remembered trying to scold him before jumping into another debate with Garnet about why they needed to keep watching him at night, but he had been too starstruck to take her lamenting with a heavy heart). He had given them that tape and asked them to watch it. Pearl could still remember the look of wonder on Rose's face in the video, how time appeared to stop, how she had begged to watch it over even after Garnet declared that it belonged to Steven.

He clearly wanted every scrap of information about his mother's life that he could get, so she supposed it was her duty to give it to him.

Currently they were trailing down to the kitchen to make Steven hot chocolate, and she noticed with a warm feeling inside that Steven was holding onto the ends of her sash, as though willing her not to stray too far.

“So you and Mom had no idea what you'd done?” Steven asked with a slight grin. “It seems kind of obvious, Pearl.”

She tapped him on the head lightly, earning a giggle in response, and pursed her lips.

“In retrospect I suppose it was kind of obvious. But you see, geode formation in gems was so rare. Homeworld wasn't exactly the most... emotionally invested place,” she said tactfully, carefully skirting around the subject. She filled the teapot with water and set it to boil. “Gems didn't function as we do. They weren't in families, a lot of gems saw serving higher entities as more important than their own emotional health, and so it was rare that gems would grow so close that they could form geodes with one another. To myself, it was a concept I knew scarcely anything about, and even your mother, with all her connections, had never personally known a gem who had carried.”

“Really? How did you even know, then?” Steven asked, setting aside his mug with the pop art Cookie Cat design on the side. “If neither of you had any idea what it was like, how did you find out you were carrying geodes?”

“Well, Steven... like human gestation, gem formation comes with its own set of ailments,” Pearl began, shuddering a little at the memory. “Symptoms, I suppose. If I hadn't shown any signs of my gem harbouring geodes Garnet probably wouldn't have figured it out, and we would have been completely unaware of the circumstances until the time came for extraction.”

“That'd be bad, huh?” Steven agreed, peering up at her. “So what _were_ the symptoms, anyway?”

 

…

 

“Ugh,” groaned Pearl for the dozenth time, perching on the edge of the warp pad and resting her head in her hands. Amethyst, who had been scouring the beach for sea glass, bounded up to her.

“What's wrong, Pearl? Has more junk gone missing from your room again? I keep telling you, if you didn't have so many waterfalls it wouldn't always be falling into _my_ -”

“It's not that,” Pearl interrupted, wincing. “It's my gem, I think... I keep getting these headaches.”

“Is your gem cracked?”

“No, I've checked at least ten times.”

“Hmm.” Amethyst flopped down beside her. “Well, take my advice, P, if your gem is starting to hurt it might be because you keep all your junk in _there_ instead of doing what I do and depositing it in your room – you know, since putting things in there is like, the sole purpose of having our rooms in the temple?”

“...Maybe,” came Pearl's deflated reply. Amethyst leaned closer.

“Wow, no snarky comeback? You must really not be doing so hot.”

“You could say that, I guess.”

They stayed silent for a few moments, before Amethyst clapped Pearl roughly on the back.

“Hang in there, Pearl. You'll get better.”

“Thank you for having faith in me,” Pearl said dryly, reaching over to shove her lightly back. “Do you know if we're going on a mission today?”

“I don't think so. Rose and Garnet are still looking at the amulet. Have _you_ looked over it yet?”

“Not yet,” Pearl replied ruefully. She'd tried to take a look at it earlier, but her gem had been hurting at irregular intervals for the past few days and truthfully she was afraid of making a false assumption about the nature of the gem artefact. The pain in her gem had been causing her pretty embarrassing mistakes these past few days (she was certain Amethyst was still silently laughing at the fact that yesterday she'd mistaken Amethyst's door for hers and gotten frustrated when it refused to open for her). Not to mention the tiredness. It was unusual for her to feel so fatigued, but maybe it was because of the fusion? Normally she'd have healed up by now. (Rose was fine, but then again, Rose had always been fine after fusion)

“Wow, I figured you'd be all over it,” Amethyst smirked. “Not losing your touch are you, P?”

“Absolutely not,” Pearl countered, rising to her feet. Her gem pulsed again and she wobbled, reaching out and using the top of Amethyst's head for support.

“Pearl. Are you sure you're okay?” Amethyst squinted at her. “You seem like you're bugging out like, more than usual.”

“I'm fine, Amethyst, honestly,” Pearl countered sharply, a note of irritation in her voice. “I just lost balance for a moment, that's all.”

“Yeah, well, you're acting weird. Better smarten up or Rose and Garnet are gonna notice.”

“I know that,” Pearl said shortly. “I'm – I'm going back to my room.”

Amethyst guffawed at the mention. “Yeah, okay, just don't try and open my door this time, got it?”

With a groan, Pearl stood upright and retreated to her room, her head still pounding.

 

…

 

The whistling of the kettle dragged Pearl from her thoughts.

“So you didn't say anything to them?” Steven asked, reaching over to grab the kettle. She gently moved his hand away and poured the water herself. “Why not?”

“Well, I really didn't think it was anything to worry about,” Pearl confessed, silently wondering the same thing. It would have saved a lot of trouble later on. “I genuinely thought the headaches were from my gem reaching maximum capacity. I would have cleared it out, but I had to generate more storage space in my room beforehand and truthfully, it slipped my mind.” Her cheeks were tinted a pale blue. “Fatigue was another symptom... I was so tired I completely forgot what I was doing.”

“That's so unlike you,” Steven remarked, opening the fridge door to grab the milk. “Did you try to hide that too?”

“Yes,” she admitted, a little embarrassed. “I didn't want anybody to worry about it. I honestly thought it would go away...”

As she began to pour the milk in, she felt his hand grab her sash again. “Promise me you won't hide things like that from me, Pearl?”

He stared at her and she saw Rose's eyes from that day, peering over her.

“ _My poor Pearl...”_

“I promise,” she said, offering him a smile.

 

…

 

“Pearl?”

She jerked awake, realising with a jolt that she was lying on one of her higher fountains. Immediately humiliation hit. Had she been _sleeping_? Surely she wasn't _that_ tired?

“Y-Yes?” she called back, hastily changing into dry clothes. Her gem ached with the effort and she suppressed a groan.

“Are you okay in there?” Rose's voice was muffled behind the door. “I called your name three times already.”

“Yes, I-I'm fine! I just – I was lost in thought,” Pearl uttered quickly, leaving her room without having achieved much of anything. “What is it?”

“We're warping out again. We think another gem monster might be responsible for breaking the locket,” Rose explained. Garnet and Amethyst were already stood on the warp pad. “What were you doing in there?”

“It's not important,” Pearl dismissed. As she stepped onto the warp pad Rose and Garnet exchanged glances but said nothing, before the warp pad activated.

The island had hardly changed in the four days since they'd last visited, the breeze as gentle as it had been back then, the smell of salt air different from the beach surrounding the temple but still just as strong. The ocean was calm and the trees swayed quietly, as though not wanting to disturb the gems during their stay.

“It seems normal enough,” Pearl said, turning to the others quizzically. “What gives you the impression a gem was the cause of the other breaking free?”

“It was... a feeling. I could hear that gem's song lingering on the locket. It was definitely a different presence to that of the onyx who broke free. I can't tell if the gem was corrupted or not, though.” Rose sighed. “Actually, I was hoping you had analysed it. Normally you're on top of these things, is something wrong?”

Pearl froze, her eyes flickering over to Amethyst. The smaller gem shrugged, as if to say, 'it wasn't me who gave you away, bud'.

“What? Of course not, I – you seemed so invested in it. I thought it would be best to leave you and Garnet to handle things, Rose.” She stared at the ground sheepishly.

“Well, okay,” Rose said, accepting Pearl's explanation uncertainly. “We should move. If we manage to track down the other gem and subdue it, we can analyse the both of them and try to determine if there were ever a pair matching the descriptions of these gems working together during the war. And Pearl, please look over both of the gems when we return to the temple. We really needed your input on this,” she added gently. Pearl's cheeks flushed in shame.

“Of course,” she murmured, bowing her head.

 

…

 

“It sounded like Mom was harsh on you,” Steven mumbled with a heavy heart. Pearl, who had been following Steven up the steps to his bedroom, stopped in her tracks.

“Of course she wasn't, Steven! It was expected of me to look over gem artefacts we found, I was supposed to analyse in detail and report back. It was my job in the group but I didn't come through. It was my own fault.”

“But you said you were forgetful because you hurt your gem,” he protested, sitting back on his bed. He cupped his hot chocolate in his hands and stared down at the marshmallows idly floating on top. “That wasn't your fault, it was because of the geodes. And you and Mom made them together.”

“Your mother didn't know that when she said that to me,” Pearl promised, perching on the edge of the bed beside him. She had made a cup of tea for herself and also cradled it in her hands. The warmth and the shape reminded her of the triumphant sensation of holding her first geode, and she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat before continuing. “Please believe me, Steven, if Rose had known about it she wouldn't have even let me come on the mission. She was very protective of all of us. Her expectations of us showed us that she cared.”

“Well, okay...” Steven drank from his cup, still frowning, and Pearl chuckled at the face he was making before continuing her story.

 

…

 

The Crystal Gems had broken off into two teams – Pearl and Garnet took the forest this time while Amethyst and Rose scoured the shores.

“Do you have any idea where it could be hiding?” Pearl asked Garnet, picking through the foliage with feigned interest. Truthfully, all she could think about was the nagging ache in her gem that had started up again, only mildly uncomfortable but enough so that it was impossible to ignore. She gritted her teeth and continued onwards.

“There are various futures showing the gem creature attacking in the forest,” Garnet deadpanned. “And there are two possible futures where it attacks on the shore. Since the forest is more likely, I wanted to see it for myself.”

“Why would you bring me along, then?” Pearl grumbled. “We both know Amethyst or Rose would have been a better choice.”

She was secretly glad this was Garnet she was venting to, since the other two probably would have beat around the bush with half-hearted 'oh no, Pearl, you're just as strong as the rest of us'. Honestly, the lack of genuine feeling behind those words grouped with Pearl's nagging headache would have been the final straw. Fortunately, Garnet wasted no time.

“I don't care. I wanted to ask why you have been acting strangely these past few days.”

“What? No I haven't,” Pearl said quickly, examining the ferns in front of her by prodding them with her foot disdainfully.

“Yes you are. Normally you would have already looked over the artefact and given your findings back to us, but you haven't even touched the locket since you and Rose recovered it.”

“Like I said,” Pearl gabbled, “you two were occupied with trying to heal it. I didn't want to get in the way. Not to mention I was exhausted.”

The last statement didn't sit well with her. If she could take it back she would, but Pearl knew Garnet had already heard her.

“Is your gem damaged?” Garnet asked quietly. Pearl shook her head.

“No, of course not! It isn't cracked, or chipped or even scratched. It is perfectly fine, Garnet. I always check before missions.” She frowned. “Forget I said that last thing. It was a figure of speech.”

“That doesn't make-”

 _Sense_ , was what Garnet was about to say, before the ground crumbled beneath them, sending them tumbling downwards into a cavern as a monstrous snarl ripped through the tranquillity of the island. Pearl and Garnet hit the ground with a thud.

“I'm guessing you were right, Garnet,” Pearl uttered, grimacing as a particularly sharp pain tweaked through her gem. “It _did_ attack in the forest.”

“Sure did.”

It was hideous, a deep brown in colour with a large dark snout and three rows of teeth, pale yellow in colour. Embedded deep within its chest, a topaz stuck out, surrounded by crystal growth that had spread over much of the body of the beast like a fungus.

“Garnet? Pearl?” Rose's voice in the distance alerted the attention of the creature, which leaped upwards, out of the hole and scrambled in the direction of the sound. Garnet and Pearl rose to their feet.

“Come on. We have to catch up to it,” Garnet said simply before following the creature out of the cavern. As Pearl was about to do the same, she staggered when her gem pounded again, leaning against the rock face dizzily as she steadied herself. As her eyes focused, a glint caught her eye. Turning to lay her eyes on the source, her eyes widened.

“Pearl!” Garnet urged, and Pearl ripped her gaze away, jumping upwards. With their luck they'd capture the monster and return down there once she revealed her findings to them. No problem. It would all work out.

When her feet hit the forest floor it became apparent how strong the gem monster was. Torn whips belonging to Amethyst lay scattered around, and she was currently attempting to lasso the creature to no avail. Rose had her shield out, which the creature was viciously snapping at in an attempt to crack it. Garnet was positioned atop a tree, gauntlets out, ready to strike. Pearl reached for a spear, her head throbbing with the effort, and threw it towards the eyes, hoping to blind the creature. With a snarl it shook its head, the spear sweeping cleanly past its head and sailing into the distance, hitting a faraway tree with a quiet _thwack_.

“It's a lot more intelligent than the onyx we fought, Pearl,” Rose informed her. The creature dodged Garnet's gauntlet easily, as though to prove a point. It broke free of the lasso and shook its head backwards, forcing Amethyst back against a tree with a slight crunch of the bark. She groaned and dropped to the ground, before shakily standing and brushing her knees off.

Pearl's vision was swimming and she blinked, trying to clear her head. The aching of her gem was gradually getting worse and her and Amethyst were nowhere near close to finishing off the offending gem monster.

“Pearl, wake up already,” snapped Amethyst, brandishing a whip and hurling it towards the monster. It succeeded in immobilising the creature, sending it crashing to the ground with a snarl. “You've been spacing out all day and we don't have time for this!”

“Sorry, I-” She reached to pull out a spear and the pressure building in her gem made her cry out. Amethyst opened her mouth to say something but dodged as the gem creature reached out and snapped its jaws at her, prompting her to send out another whip. Pearl gritted her teeth and pulled out a spear, letting out a groan as it finally slipped out. Weakly she threw it, too dizzy to notice where it landed, and relief filled her as the strangled croak of a creature with a tiny spear piercing its windpipe rang in her ears.

“Good one, Pearl,” called Rose encouragingly.

Pearl swallowed, trying to steady herself. She screwed her eyes shut for a few moments, counting to ten. When she opened them she expected to have a clearer vision; instead, all she saw was darkness. What was happening to her? She barely registered the way her body temperature spiked as her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, landing heavily on her side.

“Pearl!” Amethyst deflected an attack from the rogue monster, before rushing over to her collapsed team mate. She shook Pearl's shoulder vigorously, panic setting in. “Garnet! Garnet, she isn't responding to me!! GARNET!”

“Finish it off,” Garnet called towards Rose, who nodded and proceeded to retrieve her sword, brandishing it at the corrupted gem. Within moments Garnet had sprinted from their position to where Pearl lay, unconscious in Amethyst's arms.

“She's burning up and won't wake up when I shake her,” Amethyst choked out, on the verge of tears. “Garnet, what'll we do?! Is this what gem corruption looks like? Are we going to lose Pearl?”

Garnet knelt beside Amethyst and took Pearl into her own arms. Her skin was much warmer than average gem temperature, and when she put a hand to Pearl's gem she pulled back sharply; it burned, pulsating beneath her fingers. Instantly, it clicked.

“Pearl was fatigued,” she muttered, almost inaudibly. Amethyst leaned closer.

“What is it? Garnet, tell me,” she pleaded, frightened.

“Pearl was fatigued,” she repeated, louder.

_She's been disorientated for days, and she's been complaining of headaches, but we didn't notice a thing,_ Sapphire's voice, small and filled with regret, sounded in the back of Garnet's mind.

_Yeah, but we didn't account for_ this _! It's been millennia since we last saw something like it,_ Ruby's voice, defensive and righteous, boomed somewhere not too far behind.

_We should have seen this coming._

_But Pearl shouldn't even be able to-!_

“So you're saying she's just taking a power nap?!” Amethyst exclaimed incredulously. “Garnet, even you have to know this is terrible timing. And that doesn't explain why she's burning up!”

“We have to get her back to the temple. It's not safe for her to be going on missions right now,” Garnet declared. _Whether she has that function or not, we need to alert Rose Quartz and bring her back to the temple,_ their voices commanded in unison. _Then we'll decide what to do._

As Garnet was ready to call out for Rose, the corrupted gem evaporated, the entire clearing engulfed in a mushroom cloud of smoke. The gem was quickly contained in a rose bubble and within moments Rose Quartz stumbled over to the group, frantic.

“What happened to you, my Pearl?” she asked, kneeling beside them and feeling Pearl's gem. The intensity of the heat radiating from it caused her to retract her hand, her eyes widening. She looked to Garnet fearfully. “This doesn't look like the usual symptoms of gem corruption. Oh, goodness. What's happening to her, Garnet?”

Garnet cleared her throat.

“I can't say for sure, but I think it's possible she could be carrying a geode.”

Time seemed to stop, if only for a moment.

Rose stared. “...What?”

Garnet turned her attention back to Pearl, who was still unresponsive. “We have to get her fever down. Try healing her. If her symptoms don't fade it's most likely a geode manifesting within her gem.”

“Pearl...” Rose cupped the face of her friend, holding it close to her, and felt tears filling her eyes. Silently, she cried onto Pearl's gem, each tear sinking in and glowing. They eased the fever somewhat; the temperature of her physical body was significantly lower, although her gem continued to blaze, pulsating angrily and causing her to whimper faintly.

“It isn't working.” Rose sat back, startled. “It isn't working, Garnet. I think she might actually be carrying a geode after all.”

“What's a geode?” Amethyst grabbed Pearl's limp hand anxiously, squeezing it. “What does any of this mean, Rose? Garnet?”

“It means we need to get her to the temple. A familiar environment should put her at ease, and the water in her room might cool her down.” Garnet stood, heading over to the warp pad while Rose scooped Pearl up and held her close. Amethyst clung to her hand as they warped back to the temple. The tide was only fringing the cave, causing Amethyst to dust off her shoes as they held Pearl up, coaxing her door to open. Rose climbed to a low fountain and lay her body down gently.

“Will somebody explain to me what a geode is, already?!” Amethyst demanded, sitting down beside Pearl. Garnet sealed the door and the three of them crowded Pearl, looking agitated.

“A geode is... an egg, of sorts. Geodes contain small gems that have to be extracted from the gem of the carrier and they eventually form physical bodies, like us,” Garnet explained, reaching over to touch Pearl's gem. Now that she was comfortable and in a familiar environment, her gem was beginning to calm.

“So like... geodes are what infants are to humans?” Amethyst asked. Garnet nodded. “But if gems can have gem babies too, why was Pearl hiding it? It's not like we'd get mad.”

“I have no idea. Although she might not have realised the symptoms pointed to geode formation, since not many gems do it due to the cold nature of Homeworld.”

“Pearls aren't typical gems,” Rose Quartz said quietly, stroking the side of Pearl's face gently. “So in theory it should be harder for another gem to accidentally conceive with a pearl. Not to mention pearls were designed for cheap labour on Homeworld, so there aren't any cases prior of pearls birthing geodes. We all assumed that it wasn't possible for pearls to manifest geodes in the first place.”

“But it takes at least two gems to conceive a geode,” Garnet pointed out. “Who here has been in close contact with Pearl's gem recently?”

The group remained silent for a few moments, before Rose clapped a hand over her mouth, the sudden motion causing Amethyst to flinch and Garnet to fix her gaze on her.

“Back when we were fighting the monster on that island, Pearl and I fused,” she said in a hushed voice, eyes widening in realisation. “She said she felt odd once we defused, she seemed a bit off balance, but she's never carried a geode before, you see, so I never considered...” She shut her eyes tightly. “How could I have missed it...?”

“So you're saying that Pearl's carrying baby Pearl-Rose hybrid geodes in her gem?” Amethyst piped up, scrutinising Pearl's gem in admiration. “That's _awesome_. Why are you all so worried? Her gem's not even hot anymore!”

“Because due to my careless mistake Pearl is now harbouring at least one geode in her gem and she wasn't built to carry gemlings with my kind of strength, Amethyst!”

Amethyst shrank back, frightened by Rose's tone of voice. It took barely a moment for Rose to realise her mistake and she reached over to squeeze Amethyst's hand, murmuring an apology.

Rose peered over at Pearl, brow furrowed. “She won't like to hear this, but it takes a strong gem to carry geodes as powerful as mine, and Pearl's physical form might not be strong enough to do that. We just have to pray that her geodes are all pearls, or she will have a hard time extracting them from her gem when the time comes.”

In the cavern of her subconscious, Pearl sensed something was amiss. Her gem had never been full to maximum capacity before but she could only assume that was the reason for the cramping in her gem, the headaches and fatigue. It made sense; a gem could hardly function at full potential if it was cluttered with junk. A part of her supposed she _should_ take tips from Amethyst and start to store needless items in her room instead. As soon as she gained consciousness she would clear out all of the novelty items and find a proper place to store them.

The dizziness was beginning to subside, and Pearl found herself beginning to regain consciousness. Faintly, she could hear voices.

“...she will have a hard time extracting them from her gem when the time comes.”

“What will happen if she can't?” Amethyst's voice was tinged with fear.

“...I'm not sure. We'll have to see.”

“See what...?” Pearl murmured, eyes opening slowly. The blurred shapes were beginning to come into focus, revealing the forms of Garnet, Amethyst and Rose surrounding her. Rose leaned forward immediately, eyes softening.

“My Pearl, how are you feeling?”

“D-Disorientated,” she muttered. As she went to sit up, the pounding in her gem made her vision swim, and she clutched her pearl carefully, letting out a hiss of pain. “I think I must have too much stored in my gem. I'll have to remove my sword collection...”

Rose supported her back and gently lowered her again, eyes clouded with pain at seeing her suffering.

“I don't think the swords are the problem, Pearl.” She stroked the surface of her gem and Pearl stared up at her, head spinning.

“What is it then...? M-My gem isn't cracked, or damaged, is it? These aren't the typical symptoms of corruption-”

“We don't think it's corruption, Pearl.” Garnet gently squeezed her arm. “It's possible that when you fused with Rose the contact created a geode.”

“A g-geode?!” Pearl cried, twisting to stare at Rose in horror. “B-But that's not possible! My gem can't-”

“That's what we thought too. But your ailment fits the symptoms of geode formation. And you and Rose fused recently.”

“I-I-I can't do this,” Pearl said, her voice rising in panic. “Oh my goodness. I can't do this! I know nothing about geodes. What's going to happen to me?!”

Garnet scooted closer, cupping Pearl's face in her hands and forcing her to make eye contact. “While the geodes form, the energy needed will come from your gem. You will continue to experience pain from your gem and you will experience fatigue similar to today. Your body temperature will also continue to fluctuate. It'll take anywhere between a few weeks to six months. And when the time comes, you will have to muster the energy to extract the geodes from within your gem. It'll be tough for a gem of your physical make up to produce strong geodes, but we will do anything within our power to ease the burden you carry.”

Pearl stared at her reflection in Garnet's visor, stunned. Her complexion was awful; her skin had always been startlingly pale, but in this moment it was pasty and sunken. Her hair hung limply, matted and dull. Her gem was the only part of her that seemed in decent shape – and even then, the colour of it was off, pulsing brightly at odd intervals (coupled with a shooting pain that made her ache all over) and appearing almost cloudy the next.

“I don't know what to do,” she murmured, and Rose squeezed her hand.

“We'll get through this together, my Pearl. I promise.”

 

…

 

Steven's eyes couldn't grow any wider. He leaned closer, his gaze intense.

“That was exciting,” he whispered, and she couldn't help but laugh.

“Maybe when I tell it like that. But you have to understand, it wasn't quite as cinematic at the time. In fact, it was really quite terrifying.”

He scooted closer to her, his eyes sparkling. “Garnet was so cool though! She knew exactly what to do!”

“Not exactly. She just acted upon her instincts to move me to a safe place. I owe that to her, I suppose. It wouldn't have hurt me badly to stay out there, but it probably would have taken longer for me to regain consciousness if my fever was still up.” Pearl sighed. “Even then I was causing trouble for everyone else. Even if they told me it wasn't my fault I'd ended up in this predicament I still believed it was. But your mother felt equally as responsible.”

“She did?” Steven asked. “Why?”

 

…

 

“I didn't consider this was something that could happen,” Rose confessed, running her fingers through her mane of curls, downright upset. “I mean... back on Homeworld they had tests for gems they labelled as 'defective'. It would have been on her file if Pearl was capable of gem reproduction. It wasn't. I would know, I went over it many times during the construction of the Kindergarten.”

Rose rarely ran her mouth when she was stressed – but this was hardly a situation she had anticipated. Garnet put a hand on Rose's shoulder and squeezed firmly.

“Gem reproduction occurs when two gems feel equally strong affections during a moment of intimacy,” Garnet stated quietly. “Maybe the reason Homeworld found gems like Pearl incapable of reproduction... was because they found it impossible to believe gems like Pearl could ever be loved at all.”

Tears sprung to Rose's eyes.

“That's awful...” she whispered. She buried her face in her hands, blinking back tears that threatened to fall. “You mean to say that the feelings felt by both gems during geode formation... they have to be equal?”

“That's right,” Garnet responded coolly. Rose stood up abruptly.

“I have to talk to Pearl,” she said, before leaving the confines of her room and heading to the north-east of the temple.

Pearl was sitting alone in her room, taking time to absorb the information the gems had dropped on her. Her reflection was still awful, her gem dirty one moment and too luminous the next. The cramping wasn't nearly as severe now, and the fatigue was still there, but she found herself restless all the same. When her eyes began to blur from staring at her gem for an extended period she raked her fingers through the water, stirring up the reflection until it was hardly recognisable as hers anymore.

As the pattering of feet on water sounded from the bottom fountains she glanced down. Rose was trying to gracefully make her way across the fountains, although she had never been as sufficient at moving through Pearl's room as the others. When she made eye contact with Pearl, she smiled.

“Hello there, Pearl,” she uttered, before her foot sank through the fountain she was standing in. “Oops. I'm not too good at this... come to me instead?”

Pearl obliged, emerging from the inner walls of the taller fountain moments later. Her hands were covering her gem consciously.

“What's wrong, Pearl?” Rose asked, voice laced with concern. She reached for Pearl's hands and Pearl instinctively took a step back.

“N-Nothing! I mean, the pain is still there, but it's more of a trivial annoyance,” she tried to assure Rose. “It's just... my gem is – it's rather unsightly right now.”

Rose shook her head softly. “You don't have to hide it from me. It honestly doesn't bother me, Pearl.”

As Pearl's hands fell away slowly, Rose's expression grew serious. “Pearl, we need to talk.”

“W-We do?” Dread filled her.

“We do,” Rose confirmed, placing her hands gently on Pearl's shoulders. “I... do you remember how the emotional states of gems affect the likelihood of geode formation?”

“Yes...?” Pearl responded hesitantly. Her brow furrowed. “Rose, what does this have to do with-”

“It's my fault. Your condition, I mean,” Rose said hurriedly. “I'm sorry, Pearl. I shouldn't have suggested we fuse. It was overstepping boundaries, and-”

“But we had no choice!” Pearl argued. “This isn't your fault, Rose! You had no idea my gem was even capable of geode formation! And we _had_ to fuse, it wasn't like it was...” She stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening. “Rose, y-y-you don't think I would-?”

Rose took Pearl into her arms quickly, and Pearl sank weakly into the embrace. “No, no, of course I don't think you did this intentionally, Pearl. I'm sorry if... if I insinuated that. I just think we have to be careful from now on. Do you understand?”

Of course Pearl understood. She understood from the moment she'd woken up in that room and been informed of the geodes growing inside her gem. She'd spent hours just going over it in solitude, calculating what it could mean, what she would do, what she could never do after this. Apparently, fusing was off the table now, too. She missed being Morganite already.

“I do,” she mumbled, closing her eyes.

 

…

 

“What did she mean, 'be more careful'? What did she mean by that, Pearl?” Steven enquired. Pearl hesitated.

How did she even begin to explain what Rose meant by that – meant about any of the things she had told Steven? He was hardly ready to hear about the nature of their relationship, even if Steven was the last gem – or human for that matter – who would judge her for something like this. Somehow, if he knew... well, Pearl didn't want to shatter the image Steven had built of his mother inside his mind with a tale of something that had happened such a long time ago. She'd try and leave the romantic details out of the story from now on.

“Oh, nothing, Steven,” she said softly, raising her own teacup to her lips.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know if i made it clear enough; rose and pearl DID have mutual feelings for one another at some point, but since then it had died down to an unrequited thing (hence why rose was freaked out when she realised gem reproduction occurs when gems feel equally strong emotion for each other)  
> dw though i promise that rose and pearl's relationship will change for the better in later chapters, nothing makes me sadder than unrequited rosepearl so i promise things will pick up soon!! let me know if you liked it! :)


	4. Formation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did Mom panic like you did?” Steven asked, brow furrowed. “Dad said that when he found out Mom was going to have me he worried about her all the time, so it was probably the same for her, right?”  
> Pearl smiled wanly, glancing at the rain outside. “I suppose you could say that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK WOW OKAY SWORN TO THE SWORD AND WE NEED TO TALK KILLED ME AND BROUGHT ME BACK TO LIFE AGAIN  
> with this in mind, i'm actually pretty happy that my ideas about pearl's devotion to rose and low self-esteem actually came true because it means I can still declare this fic my own canon.  
> This chapter is like 50% filler 40% plot and only 10% steven sorry guys. Also VOMIT WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER, try and skim over it if that bothers you! I tried not to write it in too much detail!!

“Geodes were probably tough to keep in your gem, huh, Pearl?” Steven asked, draining the last of his hot chocolate and wiping his mouth. Somewhere in their conversation it had started to rain, streaking the window beside Steven's bed and casting strange shadows.

“They certainly were,” Pearl agreed. “Picture holding three large eggs that get unbearably hot at inconsistent intervals inside of your gem for a few months.”

Steven couldn't even begin to imagine. He shuddered. “That sounds painful.”

“Grouped with the fatigue and heat fluxes, it definitely wasn't the nicest experience.”

“Did Mom panic like you did?” Steven asked, brow furrowed. “Dad said that when he found out Mom was going to have me he worried about her all the time, so it was probably the same for her, right?”

Pearl smiled wanly, glancing at the rain outside. “I suppose you could say that.”

 

…

 

The first stage of geode formation was taking its toll on Pearl, as the others had predicted. To prevent a repeat of the previous mission, she had been confined to the temple, and spent most of the days chatting idly to whichever gem was watching over her or sleeping off the headaches that plagued her constantly. That day was just one day of many in this stage, spent without much else besides lounging around in the various fountains in her room and wondering when she'd be able to rid her gem of the geodes causing her so much pain and fatigue. However, it was more eventful than most in this stage of formation.

The rush of water brought her back.

“Earth to Pearl?”

Pearl groaned as she distantly heard Rose's anguished, “Amethyst, leave her be!”

Slowly, Pearl opened her eyes, squinting as Amethyst's face blurred in and out of focus. Carefully Rose helped her to sit up, leaning her body against her.

“I can't. Garnet told me we have to give her food.”

“Food?!” Pearl's face contorted in disgust. “That's not happening.”

“Uh, sure it is, Garnet said so.” Amethyst grinned at her sour expression. “What? You're cooking geodes in there, Pearl! Gotta give them some nutrition!”

“I thought all the energy geodes need comes directly from the gem,” Pearl pointed out, but Rose reluctantly stood, pulling Pearl up with her.

“I hate to say it, Pearl, but if you're this weak right now eating might help,” she said, supporting Pearl under her arms. “If not the geode, it will give _you_ more energy to function.”

“I'm not _weak_ , I can-” Her words caught in her throat as her gem started throb, jostled by the movement. She clutched her head and let out a whimper, staggering back against Rose. “Augh...”

“Geode formation is strenuous on our gems, Pearl,” Rose insisted firmly. “Eating will help. I know you don't like it, but you need to get your strength up.”

“But-”

“That's an order.” Rose's voice softened. “Please? For me?”

Reluctantly she lowered her head affirmatively, and Rose placed a quick kiss on the side of her face before ushering her towards Garnet's room. She hated to use such an authoritative voice on Pearl since she was normally very compliant, but the smaller gem was known for her strong dislike of consuming human food and in this instance it was vital that she found a source of nutrients for the sake of the manifesting geodes.

When they entered Garnet's room they found her laying out various fruits she had picked up on a desk-like surface, no doubt from the island they had been on during the last mission.

“Even if it's only a little, consuming these will replenish some energy for your physical construct,” Garnet said simply. Pearl swallowed. Just looking at them made her feel ill.

“Do I _really_ have to do this?” she pleaded, glancing between the gems for signs of mercy. Amethyst sat down at the makeshift table and began to peel a banana.

“Yes, you do,” Rose said firmly. “Come on, Pearl, please. It won't be so bad.”

“We're doing this because we care about your well being and the possibility of producing fully functional geodes,” Garnet stated, handing her a banana. “It's important.”

“...Fine, okay,” Pearl said reluctantly, sitting down slowly. She watched Amethyst eat and tried to replicate the motions, gagging a few times before swallowing painfully. She shuddered as the banana settled in her stomach.

“Now was that so bad?” Amethyst teased.

“ _Yes_ ,” Pearl grumbled, feeling nauseous. She clapped a hand to her head as a sharp pain twinged through her gem. “Ow...”

“Just try to eat some more, I promise you'll feel better,” Rose said gently, patting the top of her head lightly. She turned to Garnet. “I looked over the gem we found, but something is strange about it.”

“How do you mean?” Garnet asked.

“Well, the gem was a topaz, right? Topaz gems were usually used as smugglers for gem artefacts, which explains why we found the presence on the chain of the onyx. What I don't understand is what the topaz was doing on _that_ island. _We_ were the side using smugglers to recover artefacts from the Homeworld troops, so who was that gem and why was she _there_?”

“She could have gone rogue,” Garnet pointed out. “It's not like gems haven't before.”

“Well, maybe... but what would she be doing? Smugglers weren't needed after the war, so if she were working for us or for the Homeworld troops, she would have given up. If she wasn't working for either... well... what else would she be doing? It's not like pawning off gem artefacts to humans would make any difference. What would this gem be needing human money for?”

Pearl sat straighter suddenly, recalling the sight she had seen during the fight against the corrupted topaz. “No, I don't think it was! When I was in the ditch, I saw... lots of chains? There were – were definitely a lot of chains and other scraps of metal that gems could have been forged to. And a whole pile of gems. Some were cracked or broken, I couldn't tell the condition of some-”

“You saw all of this?” Rose knelt down beside her. “Why didn't you say anything?”

“I was so disorientated,” Pearl confessed, cheeks flushing in shame. “My head was all over the place, I wasn't sure if what I saw was even real... and then after the incident when you told me about the geodes I was so shocked it completely slipped my mind. I couldn't even remember it until just now.”

She attempted to conjure a visual of the pile, but as she began to project it from her gem she grunted in pain and it abruptly dissolved. “Sorry, I-”

“Don't worry about it,” Rose said, squeezing her arm. “We'll put you back to your room once you've eaten and then Garnet and I will head out.”

“What about me?” Amethyst cried indignantly. Rose reached over to ruffle her hair.

“My sweet Amethyst, it's your job to watch over Pearl now, until we return. Garnet and I were heading out anyway to recover a gem from a dying mountain, so this will be a quick detour, just to make sure the gem pile is in a stable condition for us to bubble and contain the gems.”

“But I can be useful too,” Amethyst whined. “All Pearl does is sleep and complain.”

“I do not,” Pearl shot back. Amethyst responded by shoving another peeled banana into Pearl's mouth.

“Please look out for each other,” Rose said with a smile. “I would really appreciate it if you took over watch for me while I'm out, Amethyst.”

Amethyst pouted, folding her arms and looking away. “...I guess someone has to do it,” she grumbled, and Rose beamed, ignoring Pearl's outraged, “If you don't want to that's fine, I don't need a babysitter anyway!”

“The sooner we head out, the better,” Garnet reminded Rose. With a quick nod, Rose turned back to Pearl with a serene smile.

“I'm not leaving until you've eaten the rest of that fruit, so you should probably get a move on, my Pearl.”

By the time she had finished she felt uncomfortably full. Her physical form, not used to the prospect of storing copious amounts of food, protruded slightly, much to her embarrassment. Rose, however, seemed delighted.

“I know that was hard for you, but I really do think it will help you regain some of your energy,” she beamed. The small peck on her cheek was the only reward for eating that Pearl was willing to accept at this point.

“I hope so,” she grumbled. She stood upright by herself, no longer feeling as dizzy as before, and dusted off her legs. “I'm going back to my room then, if I can't be of any help on the mission.”

“You'll be back with us in no time, Pearl,” Rose said cheerfully, as the others rose to their feet. Rose and Garnet continued on to the warp pad while Pearl selected her room and stepped back inside, casting an anxious glance over to the others.

“Go on, you'll be fine,” Rose prompted softly, offering her a reassuring smile. Pearl nodded back uncertainly, before the door shut behind her, sealing her in.

“I'll check on you later,” Amethyst's voice rang dimly through the door, and Pearl exhaled before hopping up to a taller fountain to rest.

 

…

 

“So you weren't allowed to go out on missions? That sucks,” Steven sympathised, showing his disdain openly. Pearl laughed.

“It did. It was for the best, though. If my gem had acted out again in the middle of a mission I could be a real threat to the mission objective. Hindering the team is the last thing I would want to do, and your mother was already insistent that I rest.”

“It wasn't until recently that you'd ever slept, though,” Steven pointed out, memories of the slumber party resurfacing. He tried to ignore the nagging memory of the dream, and the way that she had her arms clasped around his mother, how her eyes shone. He willed the thought away and focused at the task at hand. “Why did you not know how to sleep if you were constantly sleeping while the geodes were growing?”

“It wasn't a controlled action,” Pearl began, fiddling with her hands. “Manifesting geodes wears on a gem, and sleep just... comes naturally. Often I would fall asleep unintentionally, without much warning. Even though the search for Lapis and Jasper left me tired, it wasn't anything like when I was harbouring geodes, and I couldn't seem to figure out how to make myself do it.”

“If it was really that tiring for you, I bet Mom was worried about you all the time! Since you were always trying to protect her, and stuff!”

“That's right. Garnet and Amethyst were also keeping watch over me, but your mother in particular... felt obligated to.” She closed her eyes, allowing a small smile to cross her face. “It was nice though, I suppose.”

 

…

 

“What are we thinking, Garnet?”

“Well, Pearl was definitely onto something.”

Rose hopped down and examined their surroundings. Pearl had been right. Rings littered the floor, chains had been strewn around protrusions in the walls, and gems remained scattered in a disorganised pile towards the back of the cavern.

“Oh, my,” she breathed.

“It looks like a hoarder.” Garnet folded her arms, taking in the sight for a few moments. “It looks like a lot of the gems have been badly damaged. Damaged beyond reforming, anyway. We should bubble the gems we can find and fix a time to scan the island for any reformed gems.” She took a few steps forward, bubbling a cracked emerald on the floor with a grim expression.

“You mean we can't just do it now?” Rose asked incredulously, joining Garnet in collecting the remaining gems. “If they've reformed they could be causing trouble for the locals.”

“Taking care of the Mountain of Decay is the priority,” Garnet said simply. “It doesn't have much time left. If that gem takes the remaining life force from that mountain it will only move onto another, and it'll be a lot harder to retrieve.”

“But still...” Rose stared at the mound of gems and chains helplessly. There were so many. Who knew how many gems had reformed since they had taken out the topaz gem?

“We should be successful,” Garnet said, “if we hurry now. Most futures present a victory in which we manage to salvage the mountain if we go there immediately.”

But how many humans will be hurt if we leave now?

She let the question hang, and continued to help bubble the gems in front of them.

“We'll sort it out, I promise,” Garnet said quietly, as they made their way back to the warp pad. “We can contain them before they cause any severe damage.”

“If you're sure,” Rose muttered.

The second half of the mission was simple. Retrieving the gem powering the Mountain of Decay was their top priority, and for that they needed Rose. Although unwilling to leave Pearl unattended for an extended period of time, Rose knew that the sooner they bubbled the gem the easier it would be to salvage what was left of the mountain. If the gem was getting its energy from the minerals in the mountain the easiest way to restore the mountain to its former state would be to shatter the gem – but if there was any chance of healing the gems and Rose allowed one to die needlessly, what kind of leader would that make her? Humanity was a beautiful thing, something that had taught her to value life, and the last thing Rose wanted to do was destroy a gem that could one day live again.

Garnet, on the other hand, was more concerned with dealing with the threat than whether or not the gem was destroyed. Truthfully, she didn't hold much faith in the idea that the corrupted gems could be healed; it was more wishful thinking than anything else.

She would have voiced these concerns aloud, but Rose's mind wasn't engaged in the mission. Her movements were slower, her gaze distant.

“You're thinking about Pearl,” she said aloud, and Rose closed her eyes.

“I suppose I am. I feel responsible for her weakened state, Garnet. I know she doesn't blame me but she has every right to. I betrayed her.”

“Creating the geode wasn't intentional,” Garnet stated, resting a hand on Rose's shoulder. “Pearl knows that.”

“But a geode is created when gems both feel a strong emotion towards each other,” Rose pointed out, sighing. “I've betrayed her trust. It was me who told her all those years ago that we couldn't be so intimate anymore. I tried to be gentle, but I know it really hurt her. And now, due to my carelessness geodes are forming in her gem and she has hope that things will go back to how they once were. I've completely undone any independence Pearl had.”

Garnet shook her head. “You can't say that for certain, Rose. Pearl is a lot stronger than we accredit her for. She may feel obligated to you, but ultimately it is her choice to follow you... whether you love her the way she loves you or not.” Garnet squeezed Rose's shoulder. “But I think you already know that.”

Rose lowered her head. “I don't mean to lead her on. I just didn't want her to get too attached to me. I mean, back during the rebellion, you remember how often she would put her life on the line for me. I couldn't let that continue – but I guess in my mind she is still my Pearl, even if I was the one who put a stop to things.”

A monstrous growl interrupted their conversation and Garnet's hand dropped to her side. Without another word she continued to climb the mountain, and Rose followed suit, pushing the conversation to the back of her mind. The rocks were unstable; some would crumble, while others were slippery to touch and proved as poor grips while climbing. The rotting plant life sprouting from cracks in the mountain was oozing with crystal brain fungi. If the state of decay was this bad already, Rose couldn't anticipate how dead the top of the mountain would prove to be.

“We have to take it out, Rose. Once we bubble it, try to heal the mountain.”

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as she felt a wetness on her hand, shortly followed by a more consistent downpour.

“Nothing like rain to make this climb easier,” she laughed, hastily speeding up as the rocks became more difficult to grip on to. Garnet was already at the top, so she gritted her teeth and pushed ahead, arriving at the peak a few moments later. Wiping her grime-covered hands on her dress, she summoned her sword and stood her ground as the corrupted gem approached them, it's speed agonisingly slow, as if purposely drawn out for suspense.

It's body was built of rotting plants, dead grass, crystal brain fungi growing on parts of its body in clusters like patches of fur. It had no mouth, but two gaping holes for eyes, which stared blankly at Garnet and Rose as they summoned their weapons and poised themselves. Its eyes crinkled slightly, as though turning up in an eerie smile. They couldn't even begin to tell where its gem was.

Garnet made the first move, darting across the terrain in the blink of an eye and drawing back her left gauntlet, before surging it forward into the head of the beast. It howled, summoning more dead grass from the surface of the mountain to replace the side of the head it had lost, effectively ducking as Garnet went to swipe at it again.

It was Rose's turn. She charged ahead, sword raised, and neatly decapitated the monster in question, wiping the debris from her sword as the head toppled to the side. For a few seconds the body stood limp, and Rose considered whether the gem had been residing in the head rather than the torso; her thoughts wandered back to Pearl, lying alone in her room, the gem embedded in her forehead pulsing in pain, and briefly worried that Amethyst wouldn't be keeping a proper watch over her like she had promised.

“Rose!”

Garnet's raised voice caused Rose to dodge in time to miss the slew of crystal brain fungi being thrown at her sluggishly, and she shook her head.

“Sorry, Garnet, I-”

“Come on,” Garnet urged, “we have to take care of the problem at hand.”

Garnet code for _Stop worrying about Pearl, it isn't helping anyone._

“Right.” Rose brought her sword out again, instead aiming for the arms. The monster once again cried out in protest as its arms crumbled upon removal, dead grass and mud falling to the ground. It was harder to navigate in the rain, and Rose found her bare feet sinking into the mud wasn't as glorious a sensation as it used to be – the life signs from this mountain were weak and dying, and being unable to feel the life stirring around her put her at great unease.

Garnet swung her gauntlets again, taking out the legs. The creature whined and growled, but Garnet wasted no time in punching three defining holes in the torso. This, it appeared, was the breaking point of the gem, and a small white mushroom cloud of light alerted her to the small gem resting in the chest of the beast, caked in mud. She bubbled it quickly and sent it off, not recognising it as a gem of their own army. Rose appeared dismayed.

“I can barely feel the life of this mountain at all,” she despaired. “I don't know if my tears can save such a huge terrain.”

Garnet reached out and squeezed her shoulder, and Rose sank to her knees, reaching to run her fingers through mud, through dead grass, through fungi and brittle leaves and crumbling rocks.

“I'm sorry,” she uttered, tears filling her eyes. “If we had reached you sooner...”

As the first two tears dripped into the surface, there was a definite change; the grass began to green again, the fungi began to shrivel.

“A few more should do it,” commented Garnet, and Rose nodded, allowing for her eyes to overflow once more. As the mountain began to clean itself and Garnet turned to head back to the warp pad, Rose reached down and summoned two figures of mud and grass, coming up to her thighs. They stood attentively, awaiting orders. She crouched down and placed her hands on their shoulders.

“I need you to watch over this mountain for me, okay?” she asked sweetly. “I can't always be here to make sure it stays healthy and safe, which is why I'm entrusting the two of you with that job. Is that clear?”

They nodded stoically and saluted her as she gave them a small wave in response, following Garnet down the mountain.

“We reek,” Garnet muttered as Rose caught up, and she hesitantly brought her arm to her nose.

“Yeesh, we do. I'm guessing that came from the decaying make-up of that monster, huh?” She grinned. “At least Amethyst will still love us no matter what we smell like.”

Garnet allowed for a tiny smile to cross her face.

“Yeah.”

 

…

 

Pearl swayed uneasily, nauseous from the dizziness plaguing her. The food she had consumed earlier had done little else beside sit churning in her stomach, and she knew she had to expel it before there was any hope of her sleeping. Rose and Garnet had gone out on a mission, and while Amethyst was supposed to be keeping watch over her she'd grown tired of it, telling Pearl to holler down the waterfall if she needed anything. Ha. Like she could tell Amethyst how awful the food was making her body feel; Amethyst loved eating the most out of the gems so she would only laugh and tell Pearl to stop making a big deal out of it.

She didn't want to throw up in the temple, though; no, that'd be awful, and if the gems found out about it they'd know she wasn't eating properly. It wasn't _her_ fault human food made her sick.

She willed the nauseating dizziness back long enough to step off the waterfall, leaning against the wall for support. Slowly she edged over to the door and left the temple, holding onto her gem and wondering how much more of this she could take. Unfortunately geodes had a habit of clinging to the inside of a gem until they were ready themselves to be born, so she had no hope of extracting them early and returning to her normal routine.

(Not like she could do that anyway, she noted, mad at herself for even considering such a thing. If she ever did that to Rose... she couldn't risk pushing them even further apart.)

She crept to the edge of the cave, the walls slimy to touch, the sand damp from the tide. If she just threw up in the water the evidence would get washed away, wouldn't it? The others wouldn't have to know.

Gingerly she found a secluded spot on the beach, hidden from view from the temple, and she knelt down, waves of sickness sweeping over her but never amounting to anything. As a particularly strong wave of nausea washed over her Pearl prepared herself to heave but all that came up was a hiccup, gas, a burp. She groaned.

She wasn't sure how long she sat in the cold sand waiting for the heavy nausea in her stomach to spill out, but finally she heaved, and began to vomit. She could only hope that once it was out the queasiness would subside and she'd be able to finally sleep.

Disgusting, nasty stuff. She shuddered and waited until the last of it was out before rising shakily to her feet, hoping that Amethyst hadn't checked in on her yet. Knowing Amethyst, she'd be okay, but there was still a nagging worry that she'd tell Rose about her leaving the temple anyway.

She was about to open her door when the warp sounded.

“Pearl? What are you doing out here?”

Pearl turned to say something, but – oh, heavens. The smell. Her stomach roiled.

“I-” Oh, no, no, no. She leaned back against the temple door to steady herself. Rose and Garnet were looking at her strangely. She couldn't-

“The smell,” she choked out, beginning to heave again. They exchanged confused glances, before she coughed up the last of the fruit unsettling her stomach.

“Rose, bubble us,” Garnet said sharply, and Rose obliged, stunned.

“If you aren't feeling well you should lie down,” Garnet advised. She sounded a little tired. “Why did you leave in the first place? Go on now, rest in your room. We'll clean up and come see you then.”

“Okay,” muttered Pearl, trembling, face flushed in shame. She entered the temple quickly, and Rose released the bubble.

“What was that?” she murmured, bewildered.

“The bubble was the only way to keep her from vomiting more. In all other futures she expelled even more from her makeshift stomach, and that wouldn't be pretty.”

“Yikes.” Rose exhaled. “Maybe forcing her to eat wasn't such a good idea after all. She never has been good at holding food down.”

“We should still try to feed her,” Garnet said firmly, “but it might be easier to only give her small amounts. Less for her to throw up.”

“True,” Rose sighed. She sniffed her arm again. “We do smell pretty bad, though. It's no wonder we made her ill.”

“It _was_ a bit of an overreaction,” Garnet said, and the two of them stifled their laughter before departing to wash.

 

…

 

...Naturally, though, Pearl spared Steven the more grotesque details.

“Did Mom and Garnet manage to get all of those gems, though?” Steven asked. “It doesn't sound like they searched the island for as long as you guys usually do.”

“They were under pressure to save the mountain,” Pearl explained. “Normally the search would have been more thorough, but of course, I was unable to help and Rose insisted Amethyst keep watch over me. If they had brought Amethyst along with them, maybe...”

She trailed off, expression downcast. Steven peered at her in confusion.

“Pearl? What is it?”

“N-Nothing! It's nothing,” Pearl said quickly, smoothing back her hair distractedly. “Um, where was I, again?”

“The end of the mission that Mom and Garnet went on! What happened after that?”

Remembering the stench and the sickness that followed, Pearl grimaced. “Er... lets skip forward a few days, all right?”

 

…

 

“This is where we'll incubate the geodes,” Garnet stated, folding her arms. Rose, Pearl and Amethyst stared.

The Crystal Heart was a place they seldom visited – it was delicate, powering the temple and linking to the high risk areas. It was also rich with energy, hot to touch and therefore an ideal environment for geodes to incubate.

“Is this going to be safe?” Rose asked gingerly. “I mean, it's a good source of energy for the geodes once they are extracted, but what if they overheat?”

“Would it be safer to take power from a scarcely used room instead?” Pearl suggested, glancing over at Garnet.

“This _is_ a scarcely used room, and it has more energy than any other part of the temple,” Garnet deadpanned. “The geodes will strengthen well in the Crystal Heart. They will be safe.”

“But how will we get them in there?” Amethyst asked, puzzled. “In case you haven't noticed, the heart's solid. If we break it the temple will collapse!”

“We don't have to break it.” Garnet's voice was firm. “Look.” She pointed, and their gazes followed her finger to land on five small grooves deeply embedded in the side of the heart's chamber.

“Are those holes specifically for storing geodes?” Rose asked in bewilderment. Garnet nodded.

“Gems usually don't produce more than five geodes at a time. The Crystal Heart was designed with gem reproduction in mind, only it hasn't been required for thousands of years.”

Pearl frowned. “But how do you know so much about this, Garnet? Did you- I mean, did... did Ruby and Sapphire ever-”

“Yes. Ruby and Sapphire have both carried geodes before.”

 

…

 

“They _had_?!” Steven peered at Pearl, searching her face for answers. Pearl bit her lip, offering him a small smile.

“That's probably something you should talk to Garnet about. It isn't my place to tell you the whole story.”

From below, Garnet listened in, a faint smile dusting her features as Rose's stunned face flashed in her mind.

 

…

  
“They _have_?!” Rose peered at Garnet, searching her face for answers. “But... they never said anything! When was this?”

“A short time after the First Homeworld War,” Garnet murmured, a tiny smile visible on her face.

“That long ago and you didn't mention it to anybody?!” Amethyst exclaimed, incredulous.

Pearl's frown deepened. “So that's how you knew I was...”

“I recognised the signs. They have both carried, so when I realised your body temperature was changing, I knew immediately.”

They quietened down for a few moments, before Rose asked quietly, “So what did you – they – do? Did they carry at the same time? I don't think anybody but me had access to the Crystal Heart at that point in the war.”

Garnet looked down, a hint of embarrassment on her face. “They didn't carry at the same time... Ruby carried first, and neither her nor Sapphire realised what was happening. Ruby hid it for a while, until Sapphire noticed her pain, but neither understood that it was a geode until it was time to extract it. On some level both assumed it was a form of gem corruption, so they didn't tell you.” She paused. “Only one geode was born from Ruby – a tiny sapphire geode – and neither knew what to do with it. It never had enough energy to hold a physical form because they had no idea that it required incubation after being extracted.”

Rose's eyes were shining with unshed tears, and she reached to squeeze Garnet's hand. Garnet continued, although looked a little more sheepish than before.

“Thirty years or so passed and the two rarely talked about it again, but after unfusing one time... Sapphire began to feel fatigued, too. It didn't take them long to figure out why, since they had already seen it before. Then, during a mission, they heard Citrine talking about geode formation and she answered some of their questions about what happens afterwards. A few months later, Sapphire extracted three geodes – two rubies and a sapphire.” Garnet looked away from Rose. “They panicked. They didn't want to lose these geodes too, so... She slipped into the Crystal Heart while you were gone. But even so, it amounted to nothing. She checked on them a while later and there were no signs of life.”

Rose found herself crying. “Why didn't you tell me at the time? I would have done all I could.”

“You were under a lot of pressure. More and more of our friends were corrupting, and Blue Diamond was launching preparations for her final battle. Ruby and Sapphire would have created an uproar in the resistance... since it's rare that gems make physical contact so intimately. Learning that Sapphire was carrying would have only slowed things down.”

Pearl's fists clenched and she glanced down. “...Do you know why they could never form?”

“No,” Garnet said firmly. “My best guess is that both Ruby and Sapphire were too small to bear geodes with enough strength to survive. Together we are strong, but apart... the physical forms are a lot weaker. In the end it was probably for the best, since taking care of gemlings during such hard times would have proved impossible.”

The three gathered around Garnet slowly, reaching out tentatively to wrap their arms around her.

“Is that why you fused for good?” Amethyst asked. “Were you lonely?”

Garnet shrugged.

“I suppose I'm the closest thing to a gemling they could ever hope to have. They took comfort in that.”

 

…

 

“Why can't Garnet make geodes?” Steven questioned. “If she's made up of both Ruby and Sapphire, shouldn't that make it easier?”

“Gems can't fuse while they're manifesting geodes, Steven,” Pearl informed him. “From what we know about geode formation, the chemical imbalance would most likely corrupt the geodes, which could be problematic for the host since the infection could spread. It would be unreasonable for Garnet to endure that.”

“That's so sad,” Steven murmured, and his eyes dimmed. “Poor Garnet.”

Pearl pulled Steven into a one-armed hug.

“Garnet may not be able to have Ruby and Sapphire's geodes,” she said softly, “but she has the greatest gift of all.”

“Gauntlets?” guessed Steven. She chuckled lightly at his answer.

“She has _you_ , Steven.”

 

…

 

“How are you feeling, my Pearl?” Rose asked quietly. The two were sat in Pearl's room, legs dangling over the edge of a particularly tall fountain. Pearl's head was resting in Rose's lap, the warm solidity of Rose's gem digging ever so slightly into the back of her head. Rose was stroking her hair softly, rubbing her thumb over the coolest part of Pearl's gem.

“Fine, as usual,” Pearl murmured in response, at bliss in Rose's arms. “...I apologise, for the other day. After you came back from the mission, I... made quite a scene.”

“There's no need. We should have known it would end that way. We'll moderate your food intake from now on, my dear, don't you worry.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence again, and Pearl closed her eyes, focusing on the light sensation of Rose's curls ghosting her back, the way Rose would lean down and peck her cheeks every now and then. It was casual, just like Rose wanted it to be. Pearl could live with that.

“I'm sorry you're in this situation, Pearl.”

“Why are you apologising?” Pearl asked without opening her eyes. “We're both responsible for this incident, right?”

“It's still a burden on your gem and body, though. I wish I could lighten that weight, even a little.”

Still as selfless as ever. Pearl smiled into Rose's hair.

“I don't mind. It's an honour to carry your geodes, Rose. I'm proud.”

“We don't even know yet that there is more than one in there, Pearl. Or that it's a rose quartz geode at all. What if it's a pearl?”

Pearl stayed silent. Rose peered at her, hoping, wondering, before letting the issue go. She'd come around in time, even if it meant waiting until after the first stage of formation.

“Are you worried?”

Rose's voice was solemn, and Pearl tilted her head to glance up at Rose questioningly.

“Worried?”

“About the geodes, I mean.” Rose's hand grazed over Pearl's gem, the notion sending warm shivers up Pearl's spine. “After what Garnet told us about Ruby and Sapphire's geodes, I'm worried.”

“It's... very unfortunate that they met such a fate,” Pearl mumbled, burying her head in Rose's dress. “But that's because they didn't incubate them. Garnet said-”

“No, Ruby's geode-” Rose interrupted, “Ruby's geode wasn't incubated. The ones that Sapphire carried... she stored them in the Crystal Heart, like we're going to. I can't help but wonder...”

Pearl sat up slowly, taking a few moments to steady herself on Rose's shoulder before gracefully rising. Once she had adjusted to standing upright again she found her gem wasn't aching as prominently as before.

“Pearl?” Rose questioned, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Where are you going?”

“I just – I need some fresh air,” she gabbled. “I mean, I just – I need a little time.”

She left it at that. Whether Rose would still be waiting in her room when she returned, she had no idea. Still, she walked away. She needed to clear her head as best she could, anyway.

“Garnet?”

It was late, and Garnet had been sat outside on one of the temple's large hands, watching the roiling ocean crash against the rocks beneath her. It was a dark evening, the sky a deep blue besides small pink clouds in the distance. She had heard the temple door open but had ignored it until her name was called out. Turning around, she was half-expecting to see Rose standing there, with her dress billowing in the breeze, ambling after more advice on where her relationship with Pearl stood. When she saw Pearl standing there instead, it was surprising. But only slightly.

“Pearl,” she acknowledged, turning back to stare at the ocean once more as the smaller gem cautiously moved to sit down beside her.

“Garnet... I have to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

Pearl fidgeted with her hands, unsure of how to word her fears.

“It's just... what happened with Ruby and Sapphire...” She exhaled, closing her eyes in an attempt to clear her mind. What with the near constant fatigue and headaches, it was hard to string coherent thoughts together these days. “I mean... you said their geodes never formed properly because their own forms were too weak.”

“That's just a theory,” Garnet said gently, watching Pearl with an unreadable expression. “Ruby and Sapphire fused a lot before they realised they were manifesting geodes. Whether that contributed to the geodes being unable to fully form... I don't know the answer.”

“Right...” Pearl paused for a few moments. “It's just... what I'm trying to say is, do – do you think, because of the nature of my gem, I might also-”

“No, I don't.” Garnet squeezed Pearl's shoulder, and Pearl found herself leaning against Garnet instinctively, shivering. “You aren't Ruby or Sapphire, Pearl. Things could turn out differently for you.”

“But there's no knowing that for sure!” Pearl cried. “Ruby and Sapphire – they love each other so much, they fit together so perfectly... if _they_ couldn't manifest functional geodes, what are the chances that geodes of both myself and Rose will even form? We aren't compatible. Even Rose knows that...”

Garnet says nothing for a while, allowing Pearl to lean against her as the waves roll beneath their dangling feet.

“I think what you and Rose have is complicated,” she said finally. “But you fit together. I can't see far enough ahead to know for sure how things will turn out, but your bond with Rose is stronger than you think, Pearl.”

She smoothed a hand over Pearl's gem, noting the pulsing warmth radiating from the centre, before standing up and offering a hand out for the smaller gem to take.

“Thank you,” Pearl murmured, lacing her fingers between Garnet's as the two made their way back to the temple. Her words of gratitude were scarcely heard over the churning sea, but Garnet squeezed her hand back nonetheless.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never intended for this to be so long but somehow it reached 6k words and it wasn't even that interesting aa  
> anyway WHO IS EXCITED FOR THAT STEVENBOMB HUH  
> (next chapter is extraction time... are yall excited... time flies so fast)


	5. Nascency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So the geodes came out while you were still fighting?” Steven scooted forward. “Does that mean you went through it alone?!”  
> “No, of course not!” Pearl looked shocked. “I had no idea how to handle extracting geodes. I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. I needed Garnet to guide me, and of course Rose and Amethyst were there to support me, since the process was very... draining...”  
> “So tell me about that! How did the extraction go down?”  
> Pearl looked a little embarrassed. “It, um... it didn't go as smoothly as I'd have hoped.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally time for the cliché childbirth scene, is everyone excited??  
> The new stevenbombs kill me every time oh my god. At least they gave us more proof that Pearl's a servant class gem?? I'm excited to see where they'll take that new information because I adore every Pearl-centric episode. Also Sardonyx was so fabulous I can't believe  
> In other news, I've gotten a lot of lovely comments lately so thank you! It's always fun to see these new comments and it's sweet to see people bonding over gem egg hell through comments on my chapters, so by all means keep it up, I love to see it.  
> This latter half of this chapter was one of the first scenes I wrote, but to be honest I found it so difficult to write the first half I kept putting it off... I guess because when I outlined the fic the first time Steven's parts weren't included, and the anecdotes Pearl keeps telling him aren't planned either so I keep digressing...  
> Please, please listen to Fever to the Form by Nick Mulvey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds0jtuyslbI) when you read this chapter if you have access to internet (if you're reading it on codex reader far away from any signal though, I understand completely, but it's an incredibly moving song and it totally fits rosepearl, especially with the nature of their relationship in this chapter).

“Did you stay as sick as you were until the geodes came out?” Steven questioned.

He had taken to holding his stuffed bear to his chest during her explanation, its tiny snout peeking out from the covers. It reminded her of... no, she'd rather not think of _her_ right now, head sticking out curiously from Rose's arms, staring at her with dark curious eyes. It made her chest hurt. Steven was often reminder enough of those short years filled with unconditional love and admiration over the smallest of obstacles... she willed the thought of her brood away, and answered his question.

“No, Steven. Towards the end of the gestation period I was much more accustomed to the limitations of my gem. I could even go out on scouting missions again!” Her eyes lit up. “It was so exhilarating to be useful again after months of lying in my room. Sometimes I had to return early, though, because my dizziness and fatigue would often reappear after a period of strenuous activity. My temperature would also fluctuate from time to time, although not as frequently as before.”

“That still sounds dangerous,” Steven said dubiously. “Were you okay?”

“Of course I was! I did all I could to be helpful!” Pearl had always prided herself in that. “Your mother was still insistent that I not push myself, though. She only had my best interests at heart, but...”

“But what?”

Pearl lowered her head in shame.

“Gems aren't easy to get along with when they're carrying geodes. The increased pressure in their gem unbalances their rational thinking, it can make them emotional... and usually it is the stronger gem who carries, so they aren't as affected by symptoms of geode formation. The reason I was so weak was because I was not the physically stronger parental component. This also caused my emotions to get out of hand.” She blushed and shut her eyes. “I went against my own moral code: I defied your mother.”

 

…

 

“We haven't found any more corrupted gems on the island,” Garnet said coolly, as Pearl stood beside her on the warp pad impatiently, waiting for Rose and Amethyst to join them. Garnet had been watching Pearl in her room when she had received incentive for a future mission, so they had left quickly. “So this mission won't involve going back there. I received a vision involving the area surrounding the desert warp. Most likely it is the desert glass artefact that Amber and Sodalite spoke of that time. They never managed to contain it and had to retreat, but I'm guessing that this could be our chance to contain it.”

“Really? Do we know the attack style of this gem?” Pearl enquired.

“Supposedly it manipulates sand as a defensive mechanism, surrounding itself with complex building structures to prevent capture. I'm uncertain of why, however. Amber and Sodalite weren't sure themselves, and... well, we can't ask them now,” she said with a grimace.

“Are you sure this mission will be safe for Pearl to go on?” asked Rose worriedly, emerging from the temple with Amethyst hanging from her arm. “If we're hunting down a rogue gem-”

“I'll be fine,” insisted Pearl crossly. Rose had been protective since they had first found out she was carrying geodes, but now that Pearl was stronger she had been eager to leave the temple as often as possible. “Really, Rose. Just because it isn't a simple scouting mission doesn't mean that I'll be useless. I can still help!”

“I don't doubt that, Pearl,” Rose said gently. “I just don't want to overwork you. If the mission is too dangerous you should stay behind.”

“I can't see any potential futures where Pearl comes to harm,” Garnet said easily, hands on her hips. “But if things change, we'll send her back.”

“Garnet!” Pearl cried indignantly.

“Pearl,” Garnet said sternly, and Pearl fell silent, folding her arms disapprovingly as they warped. When they arrived the scorching heat of the desert hit them, and they squinted ahead. There was nothing in sight.

“So, um... did you say the desert glass was inactive, Garnet?” Rose asked uncertainly, glancing around.

“No. It should still be active, I just can't seem to see where it is,” Garnet said shortly, seemingly focusing her future vision. In the meantime Amethyst wandered off of the safety of the warp pad and looked around her, transforming into a wolf and scratching away at the hot sand.

“Nothing here,” she called, continuing to dig regardless. Pearl went to step off the warp pad but was caught on the arm by Rose's vice grip.

“Pearl, stay here. If anything happens you can warp back immediately,” she instructed. Pearl rolled her eyes.

“ _Rose_ ,” she said, the single word packed with every ounce of disbelief and frustration she currently felt, and Rose sighed.

“Pearl, please.”

“But there's clearly nothing-” Pearl began, before Amethyst shrieked.

“Gem monster got me, gem monster got me!”

The gem creature wasn't exactly what they had expected when in search of the desert glass; it appeared to have taken the form of a large sand worm, complete with rows of tiny sharpened teeth, currently which were gripping Amethyst by the ends of her hair.

“It must have sensed us,” Garnet exclaimed. “Rose, when we get Amethyst down use your sword to run it through.”

“Understood! Pearl, warp out of here!”

The two took off and Pearl stood dazedly for a few moments, watching as Garnet punched the creature hard enough to lose its grip on Amethyst's hair and for the purple gem to tumble down onto the firm sand below, landing on her back with her legs in the air. Rose reached for her sword but it was flicked out of her grip by one of many of the creature's grey tails, landing beside the warp. Pearl grabbed it and moved instinctively, passing it to Rose as she rushed past.

“Pearl, don't! You have to stay back!” Rose cried.

Pearl ignored her. She could do this, she could still be useful to them... she charged, drawing a spear from her gem as she ran. It hurt less now (it still was a painful process, but she could do it without feeling sick from the pain, so it was a start) and she wasted no time in throwing it expertly in the direction of the corrupted gem. It howled and went down, though it rose up soon after, directing a writhing tail in her direction, complete with what looked to be a stinger. She began to run but tripped when a sharp pain tweaked through her gem, stronger than they had been previously. Rose was there in a flash, shield out.

“Pearl, go back to the warp pad,” Rose commanded urgently. As the pain ebbed away, Pearl staggered back to her feet.

“No! I can do this, Rose, I can-”

“I don't want you to!” Rose shouted, and as Amethyst delivered the finishing blow Rose took a hold of Pearl's hand, squeezing it tightly. “I don't want you to try and overwork yourself in this state. You're at too high a risk, Pearl.”

“This desert glass doesn't feel genuine,” Garnet called, encasing it in a bubble. “The rumours said the desert glass didn't take the form of a beast upon corruption. It was said to remain in its gem form but manipulate the sand around it. This could be a fake, but I'll have to analyse it to make sure.” She stopped, seeing the tension between Rose and Pearl.

“What's going on?” Amethyst asked, moving closer to the two of them.

“Pearl refused to step down when I asked her to,” Rose said, clearly upset. “She's far more vulnerable to gem corruption in this stage of geode formation but she refused to go back to the warp pad.”

“I was fine!” cried Pearl indignantly. “I handled myself, I was a safe distance away... I just wanted to be helpful.”

“Don't,” begged Rose. “I need you _alive_ , not risking yourself for our sakes. Promise me you won't do that again, not while you're manifesting geodes. I care about you too much, Pearl. If you got hurt or damaged-”

“I'm already damaged!” Pearl exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “I always have been! I was _fine_.”

“Don't talk about yourself like that,” Rose said sharply, sounding hurt. “You're _not_ damaged, and... please promise me you won't do this again. If you got corrupted and I couldn't heal you... I don't want to think about such a thing.”

She hugged herself, and Garnet stepped up.

“It was reckless of you, Pearl. Your gem is at risk of corruption while forming geodes. Rose has been unable to heal corrupted gems, you know that.”

“I'm not so useless yet that I can't even defend myself against a gem creature,” Pearl snapped, stalking over to the warp pad. “And I certainly don't need defending when we should be _containing_ it instead!” She gritted her teeth as her gem pulsed again, resisting the urge to rub at her gem.

“That's not fair, Pearl,” Amethyst cut in as the other two followed her lead, a little stunned at Pearl's outburst. “All we're trying to do is look out for you, you don't gotta be so ungrateful about it!”

“It's okay, Amethyst,” Rose said quickly, putting her hand on her shoulder. She then directed Pearl again. “We only want to keep you safe. We can't have you putting yourself in danger like this. This isn't the war. The three of us can handle gem creatures, you're allowed to take it easy.”

“But I don't want to,” pointed out Pearl, frustrated. “I don't need to be treated any differently, I-”

“Until these geodes are out you have to _let us_ treat you differently, my Pearl,” Rose said with a sigh, reaching over to cup Pearl's face. “You mean the world to me. Please don't put yourself in harm's way anymore.”

As they warped, Rose took Pearl's face into her hands and pressed a kiss to her gem, but the moment they arrived in the temple Pearl pulled away.

“Why do you keep doing this?” The question was unexpected, and Rose blinked. Pearl was stood in a guarded position, clutching her gem with both hands and scowling.  
“Pearl?”

“You always do this,” Pearl continued, glaring at Rose with the kind of frustration Rose had scarcely seen Pearl direct at her before now. “You told me – no, you ordered me – not to expect our relationship to be as it was all those years ago. But you keep doing these things, you keep kissing me and holding me like you used to and it's _hurting_ me!”

Tears were beginning to run down her face.

“It's the same thing. You said I would be stronger now - that I could help on missions, but... every time I try to do that you get upset!”

Rose shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, Pearl, I didn't mean to...”

“No matter how many times you tell me it's okay to be me and be independent, an order is an order. When you say one thing and do another, it feels like I'm broken for not understanding. Please don't do this anymore because I can't... deal with it...”

Pearl's legs buckled and she stepped off the warp pad hurriedly, rubbing at her eyes. Hesitantly Rose took a step towards her, reaching a hand out.

“Pearl-”

“I-I'm so sorry,” Pearl blurted out, and she began to cry again, before stumbling away and towards her room. “P-Please leave me be for a while.”

As the temple door shut behind her Amethyst clutched at Rose's dress.

“Rose?”

Rose, also looking shaken, quickly reached down to squeeze Amethyst's hand.

“It's okay, Amethyst,” she soothed, though she didn't sound too sure herself. “Pearl is fine. She is. Her gem was a little warm... I expect she hasn't been feeling too good today. If we give her some space I'm sure she'll come around soon...”

 

…

 

“You and my mom fought?” Steven cried, wide-eyed in disbelief. “But you were best friends... right?”

“Even best friends fight, Steven,” Pearl said tiredly. Even recalling the incident hundreds of years later made her nervous. “You know that.”

“But still, you and Mom were really close.” He glanced up at Pearl for a moment, waiting for her to say something, before deciding against it and continuing. “But you made up, right? You talked about it?”

“Oh, of course we did, Steven. Very soon after, I promise. But if not for the geodes being extracted from my gem, I have no idea how long it would have remained unresolved.”

“So the geodes came out while you were still fighting?” Steven scooted forward. “Does that mean you went through it alone?!”

“No, of course not!” Pearl looked shocked. “I had no idea how to handle extracting geodes. I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. I needed Garnet to guide me, and of course Rose and Amethyst were there to support me, since the process was very... draining...”

“So tell me about that! How did the extraction go down?”

Pearl looked a little embarrassed. “It, um... it didn't go as smoothly as I'd have hoped.”

 

…

 

Pearl stood on the edge of a taller fountain, hugging her torso tightly as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her body quaked with fear. She had defied Rose Quartz, she had yelled at her... pushed away her affections... what was wrong with her? She thought she had moved past this. She thought she was past these nagging thoughts, the thoughts of being defective, thinking the wrong things, acting out of place... so why was she here? All she had done was further complicate what she and Rose were trying to resolve now that there were geodes in her gem so close to being extracted. They were running out of time to fix things and she wasn't sure how easy it would be after this. Stupid, stupid...

Her gem pounded, with more force than it had ever done before. She gasped out in pain, her hands clutching at her gem, her knees buckling. She staggered, the sensation overwhelming, and nausea stabbed at her as it pulsed again. Pearl knew she was slipping before she fully grasped it entirely; as she put a foot out to try and steady herself she fell, from the fountain, down the waterfall, tumbling down as she blacked out from the pain.

She landed in Amethyst's room with a loud splash.

Amethyst glanced up from rooting around in her junk pile for a cannon (with the intent of hurtling rotten fruit into Pearl's room; this plan was scrapped later, of course, or Rose would have scolded her) to see the sorry sight of Pearl's limp body being washed up on the shores of her room, face down.

Her first instinct was to panic; Pearl being face down was never a good sign, especially if her body was limp – what if her gem was cracked? She didn't seem to be glitching, but Amethyst had never seen it happen to anybody but herself, so it was hard to tell for sure what it would look like-

When Pearl began to stir, groaning, she jumped up.

“Pearl?! Pearl, what's wrong?!” Amethyst rushed to her side, shaking her shoulders roughly. Pearl cried out, the pain blinding.

“It hurts,” she gasped, holding onto her gem, face contorted in pain. “Amethyst, it – it hurts so bad, I-” She hissed, hunching over, still clutching onto her gem. Her skin started to burn under Amethyst's fingers and she released her grip on Pearl quickly.

“Pearl, you have a fever again,” she exclaimed, gaze flickering around the room wildly. “Should I get Rose and Garnet?”

“I think so,” she answered shakily. She cried out again and curled up, holding her head.

“Rose!! Garnet!! Come down here, I think something's wrong with Pearl!!” Amethyst bellowed. Her voice echoed through the temple, and to her relief Garnet appeared moments later, Rose Quartz following closely behind.

“Pearl, what is it?” Garnet asked calmly, reaching down to tap her shoulder. Feeling the heat from her skin, she leaned closer. “How are you feeling?”

“My gem – my gem hurts,” Pearl groaned, trying to open her eyes but finding she was too dizzy to see straight. “The room is spinning, and my gem is pounding, and it's really hot-” She whimpered, clamping her hands down on her gem, willing the pain to subside. Garnet noticed Pearl's hands were beginning to blister from the heat of her gem and gently moved her hands away.

“Garnet, what's happening to her?” Rose asked, urgency in her voice as she clasped Pearl's hands in her own. Within moments tears were falling steadily from her eyes, clearing Pearl's sore hands, but already she knew they would have no affect on her gem. “Please... you're the only one who can withstand that heat.”

Garnet nodded and focused her attention on Pearl.

“Pearl, I'm going to palpate the surface of your gem. Try to keep still long enough for me to feel any pulsations.”

“O-Okay,” Pearl whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut and clasping Rose's hand. Rose planted a kiss on her knuckles, feeling Pearl's body relax slightly at her touch. Garnet gingerly ghosted the surface of Pearl's gem with her hands, feeling around the surface, the cusp of her gem, the centre, the area that was giving off the most heat. Inside her head was an internal debate.

_D'you think it's time for the geodes to come out?_ Ruby wondered, focusing on the intensity of the heat.

_It's hard to say,_ Sapphire responded, voice tinged with worry.  _I expected Pearl to be in the first stage of formation for longer than this, so it could just be a particularly nasty heat flux and some cramping in her gem. But I don't know, Ruby._

_The old future vision isn't doing much, huh,_ Ruby grunted, deep in thought.  _When_ we _were ready to extract the geodes, we were in a similar state. Though I remember when it was your turn to extract, the pain made you throw up._

_Now isn't the time,_ Sapphire pointed out, sounding a little flustered.  _How regular should the pulsations be? If the geodes are expelling bursts of energy, we should be able to feel them._

_I can't tell. There's more than one, but they're irregular, which would explain why Pearl's pain is so intense._ Ruby paused for a few moments, gathering her thoughts before voicing her next suspicion.  _Irregular indicates more than one geode. Just like we thought._

“There are fast, irregular pulsations,” Garnet said at last, gently removing her hands from Pearl's gem. “The intensity of the pulsations is the cause of the pain. These geodes are ready to come out.”

“Already?!” Rose cried, incredulous. She glanced down at Pearl, who let out a weak moan. “I guess the geodes are small, then. Maybe they're all pearls,” she said softly, giving her hand a comforting squeeze. Pearl squeezed back feebly, looking ready to pass out.

Garnet stood up. “We'll have to move her to your room, Rose, since it's the most comfortable. It's also closest to the Crystal Heart, so we should be able to incubate the geodes quickly after extraction.”

“Got it.” She carefully slid a hand under Pearl's head and the other under her back, slowly easing her into a sitting position. “Do you think you can stand?”

“O-Of course,” muttered Pearl, trying to calm her swimming vision. She rose to her feet shakily, Rose supporting her beneath her arms. Her entire body was trembling.

“Sometimes the intensity of the pain can cause nausea and vomiting,” Garnet said coolly. “So don't overdo it.”

As if on cue, Pearl took two steps forward before a particularly nasty pain pounded in her gem, causing her makeshift stomach to lurch dangerously. She heaved but nothing came up, since she hadn't eaten in days. Rose rubbed her back soothingly, murmuring, “Deep breaths, Pearl, it's going to be all right.”

Amethyst stood up and supported Pearl's other side. “It'll work out fine, P. Try and relax,” she said, glancing at Rose anxiously as Pearl leaned over again and coughed out some sort of bile onto the floor. Tears were running down her face and she shivered violently, letting out a sob.

“It's all right,” soothed Rose, picking Pearl up and holding her to her chest. “I think it'll be safer if I carry you, okay? Just hang in there a little while longer, and we can help you extract the geodes.”

“Okay,” choked Pearl, shutting her eyes tightly.

Garnet and Amethyst went ahead, giving Rose and Pearl some time by themselves as they walked the long route to Rose's room.

“Are you excited, Pearl?” Rose asked warmly. “They're almost here. I can't wait.”

“I'm sorry,” Pearl said quietly, hiding behind Rose's hair.

“Hmm? Whatever are you apologising for, Pearl?” Rose asked her. The heat emitting from Pearl's gem began to leave a warm spot against her hair. “You can't help when it's time for the geodes to be born.”

“Not that,” she muttered. “I – I shouted at you. I hurled my feelings at you and you didn't deserve-”

Rose shushed her, pulling her closer. They were beginning to step into pink. “You don't have to apologise for that. If anyone, I should be the one to say sorry. After the extraction we'll talk about this, my dear. But right now I need you to focus on bringing these geodes into the world, okay? Right now the most important thing is that you are as comfortable as possible for the extraction.”

“I understand,” Pearl said, before wincing. “Ah, ah, this hurts,” she gasped, reaching to clutch at her gem again. Rose quickly pulled her hands away before they could get burnt and kissed her knuckles.

“I know, my love,” she said between kisses, squeezing Pearl's hand.

 

…

 

“I'm glad you two talked it out,” Steven commented, smiling up at her shyly. Pearl smiled back.

“It wasn't completely resolved, obviously, we sorted things out later on, but all I remember besides the pain is the immense relief that Rose didn't resent me for being so unreasonable earlier on. I suppose she chalked down my unusual behaviour to early signs of the geodes needing to be extracted.” She exhaled, closing her eyes.

“But Mom wouldn't have held that against you,” Steven insisted. “You two... you cared about each other, right?”

Pearl nodded. “You're right, of course. It was silly of me to believe that Rose would have been angry at me for venting my frustrations, especially at such a tender time.” She reached over and ran her long fingers through his hair. “She and I cared for each other very much. She sat by my side throughout my extraction, supporting me when I felt that I couldn't do it any longer. And even when the pressure became too overwhelming, she helped me in ways I never dreamed possible.”

 

...

 

Rose requested a comfortable recliner for Pearl to sit on and eased the smaller gem into it, crouching down beside her. The clouds were soft already but the easiest way to extract geodes was from an upright sitting position, so it made more sense to sit Pearl down in a seat with more support. Pearl's skin was still burning, her face screwing up each time a pulsation hit. Garnet sat beside Rose, while Amethyst perched on her other side, peering up at Pearl worriedly.

“Okay, Pearl, it's time to extract the geodes. Can you remember how we explained you do this?”

“V-Visualise summoning the geode like I would a weapon,” she responded, trying to resist the urge to hold onto her gem. The pain was something similar to how it felt when she once cracked her gem, while training for the rebellion, and holding onto it tightly was the only way she could think of to keep it from falling apart. She willed the memory from her mind, trying to picture how the geode would look after pulling it from her gem.

She found she had no idea how a geode of her size or shape would even look. She had no idea how big Rose's should be, either. More tears filled her eyes as she clenched her jaw in concentration, trying to picture the sensation of holding it in her outstretched hands. A perfect Rose Quartz geode. Such a divine geode was surely too good to be born from her gem.

“Come on,” urged Rose, lacing their fingers together. “I have faith in you, my Pearl.”

Pearl's gem continued to pulsate as she strained, her entire body trembling with the effort. Surely it was never this difficult to pull out her spear for the first time? That said, it was so long ago Pearl could hardly remember. But Rose had been there – Rose –

_You are wonderful to me, Pearl,_ Rose's voice, melodic and sweet, sang in all of her earliest memories.

If only she could believe that. But a gem created from their bond... Rose Quartz would definitely find room to love such a being, even if it was spawned from her defective gem...

She cried out as her gem began to glow strongly, consistently. Amethyst made an excited noise, and Rose released Pearl's hands. They curved around the cusp of her gem; with one final surge of willpower, her hands moved away, and a small sphere fell into her hands. Without a doubt, it was a pearl.

“You did it!” Rose Quartz pecked her on the cheek encouragingly and scooped the pearl geode from Pearl's trembling fingers. “Garnet, can you warp this to the Crystal Heart?”

“Of course.” Garnet took the geode into her hands, and with a flick of her wrists it was gone. She reached over and ruffled Pearl's hair, a touch she would sometimes use on Amethyst when she did well on a mission or wanted some attention. To Pearl the gesture was alien, but she was too exhausted to care.

“Is that it?” Amethyst asked, a little disappointed. Garnet shook her head.

“Probably not. The irregular pulsations I felt indicated more than one geode.”

Pearl moaned weakly in reply.

“More pearls, right?” Rose asked hopefully. She summoned a damp cloth to dab Pearl's skin with, hoping it'd quell the fever.

“That would be ideal.”

Pearl grunted as the searing pain returned, and she grabbed Rose's hand instinctively, reaching for Amethyst with the other. Her entire body clenched.

“D-Do you know how many more there are?” she whimpered. Her vision spun and she shut her eyes, willing herself not to be sick again. Garnet shook her head.

“Ruby's estimating two, but Sapphire says it could be as many as five.”

“F-Five?” Pearl's grip on Rose's hand tightened, and Rose mopped at her face with the cloth. “A-And how many do _you_ think, Garnet?”

“Mm... two. Three at the most.”

Pearl whimpered.

“It's going to be all right,” Rose said softly, her voice a hum in Pearl's ear. “Just do it like you did before. You did really well. You can do that again.”

Focusing on the next pulsation, she shakily slipped her hands out of Rose and Amethyst's grip, trying to concentrate on the sensation as the heat in her gem spiked again. Straining, she let out a groan and tried again, searching for a geode to take into her hands. After almost a minute, her hands fell back to her side and she shook her head despairingly.

“I can't do it,” she sobbed. “I thought I had it, but nothing is working.”

“Come on, Pearl, you're almost there,” Amethyst encouraged. Pearl shook her head again, continuing to cry.

“I'm not! I don't know why. I'm nowhere close.”

After ten more minutes of straining and groaning, she slumped in defeat, cradling her caustic gem in her hands. Rose rubbed her back.

“I'm sorry,” snivelled Pearl, rocking backwards and forwards slightly. “I'm trying, but the geodes won't budge! I don't think they're ever going to come out.”

“Are you sure?” Rose asked quietly, squeezing Pearl's shoulder. The smaller gem nodded, still clutching her head.

“I suspected this would happen.”

Rose turned to Garnet. “What do you mean, Garnet?”

“If Pearl was carrying other pearls it would be easier for her to extract them because they are smaller and consume less energy from her gem. But if there are rose quartz geodes in there, it might be too much for her to handle on her own.”

“You think there are rose quartz geodes in there?!” Amethyst exclaimed, glancing between Garnet and Pearl incredulously. “I thought you said geodes as big as Rose's would need more time to form?”

“That's what I thought, too. Sorry for underestimating your strength, Pearl,” Rose said tenderly, dabbing at Pearl's face with the cloth. She glanced over at Garnet, wishing she wasn't wearing the visor so she could see the face she was making. “Is there anything we can do, Garnet?”

“I don't know for certain. Typically when geodes are formed they should be carried by the physically stronger gem, so this problem doesn't usually occur.” Garnet stayed silent for a few moments, contemplating their options, mind stimulated by the sound of Pearl's laboured breathing. It wasn't fair to prolong her agony, after all. “I suppose,” she said carefully, “if Rose were to warp into Pearl's gem and retrieve the geodes herself, it would work in theory.”

“I-Into my gem?” Pearl sat back, blistered hands falling to her side. “Will that work?”

“I don't know, but it's worth a try. Do you think you can do it, Rose?”

Rose nodded. “I can handle the geodes. Stay calm, my Pearl. It'll be over soon.” She planted a soft kiss on Pearl's cheek, before closing her eyes in concentration. The sensation of visiting the inner sanctum of another gem always felt strange to Rose, invasive, but Pearl was counting on her, so she would do her best to leave Pearl's gem undisturbed. Pearl shuddered as the last remnants of Rose's physical form slipped inside of her.

As Rose landed softly, her feet barely brushing the ground, she tossed a stray curl over her shoulder and glanced around. The inside of Pearl's gem was beautiful, as always – rows upon rows of rose bushes stretched out as far as the eye could see (would it be egoistic to think they were planted for her?), marble chambers with doors carefully marked with memories and belongings and weaponry lining the walls, the atmosphere above resembling 'skies' shimmering in blues, whites and pinks.

Of course, the state of her gem was rougher than usual; the doors were ajar, some swinging wildly, while the rose bushes were dishevelled and limp, damaged by the intense heat being given off by the geodes. Months of heat fluctuation had equated to the plants within her gem growing brittle and lifeless, so as a small token of gratitude, Rose ran a hand across the surface of one of the bushes, her powers returning the bush to its former state. She watched in satisfaction as the ripe green colour bled across the plants, the roses staining red once more. Then, remembering her task at hand, Rose moved towards the chamber, immediately spotting the geodes.

The gravity inside of a gem had different values to Earth, causing the geodes to levitate slightly above the ground, glowing a vibrant pink colour. One pulsed, suddenly; the other followed suit moments later, both sending out a wave of intense heat that began to burn at Rose's skin.

“Ah,” she winced, inwardly questioning the practicality of her attire in situations like this. “That hurt. I can sense your pain, my friend.”

From all around her, Pearl's voice rumbled miserably. “Please get them out, Rose...”

She smiled. “I will do, my Pearl.”

Gracefully she approached the geodes, watching in fascination as they began to heat up once more. The intensity of the heat at close range was beginning to take its toll on Rose's skin; as she held up her arms to deflect the heat from her face, she could feel the skin on her arms beginning to peel, and grimaced. She would have to visit her fountain later for these wounds.

As the geodes calmed down, she reached out and grasped them as they reached the coolest point of the cycle. Immediately a force within them sensed the alien presence. If geodes were animated, they were squirming, trying to break free of Rose's grip, heating up in preparation for a pulsation.

She couldn't give them that chance.

Clenching her body in concentration, she shut her eyes and mustered the last of her willpower to warp out.

The moment the geodes began to ebb into the outside world, they cooled instantly. Rose let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, and upon opening her eyes, caught sight of Amethyst and Garnet staring in fascination at the geodes in her hands while Pearl's entire body shuddered and collapsed in relief.

“Warp these to the Crystal Heart,” she told Garnet, who took them from her easily and examined them in fascination before transporting them. Rose crouched down next to Pearl, gently stroking her gem. It was cooling rapidly, no longer bursting with pulsations, and the temperature of her physical form had returned to normal.

“How many were there?” she asked feebly, fatigue washing over her.

“Two in your gem, so three in total. Two rose quartz geodes, and one pearl.”

“I'm glad,” she muttered, her eyes fluttering closed. “I'm glad only one of them turned out wrong.”

“What do you mean, wrong?!” Amethyst demanded, prodding her. “Hey, Pearl!”

Rose gently grabbed Amethyst's hand, pressing a finger to her lips. “Shh. She needs time to recover, so we should let her rest. Come on, now. Help me move her back to her room.”

She drifted away in Rose's arms, darkness welcoming her like the cool rush of her fountains.

 

…

 

Steven's face had been stretched into a giddy smile when she had spoken of the geodes, but it had quickly faded.

“Why did you say that, Pearl?” he asked in a small voice. “Didn't you – didn't you love them?”

Pearl just swallowed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO NOT MUCH HAPPENED THIS CHAPTER BUT HERE ARE YOUR GEODES, COOKED TO NEAR PERFECTION


	6. Modulation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Um... Pearl?”  
> “Yes?”  
> Steven fidgeted with his hands, squirming under her gaze.  
> “Steven, what is it?” she asked in concern, her hand moving to squeeze his shoulder.  
> “Um... did you and Mom... love each other?”  
> He'd said it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually got this chapter finished in time for the pearlrosebomb!! which is quite fitting considering what happens in this chapter. I don't wanna tease or spoil, but it's probably the most fitting for the pearlrosebomb out of all the chapters so far...  
> (Also I apologise for the length and quality of this chapter. I had like 2 bullet points for this entire chapter in my outline so I had to improvise a little.)

“...Steven?”

Steven kept his silence, staring at his hands numbly, and Pearl grew frantic.

“Oh, Steven, I – I didn't mean it like-”

She took a few deep breaths, trying to work out the best approach to continue.

“I... really am sorry if what I said made you upset, Steven. While it's... unfortunately true that I found it hard to feel attached to my geodes at first, that doesn't mean that I didn't grow to love them later on.” She clasped her hands together, cheeks burning in shame. “I found it hard to accept at first, I'll admit. But even before I grew to love them, your mother did. Garnet and Amethyst too. They loved them very much.”

 

…

 

Pearl slept for days.

It was under Rose's orders that they each take turns to peer in every so often to make sure she was no longer experiencing heat fluxes, an indicator to more geodes manifesting, but aside from that they were to leave her alone to recover. In the meantime, they had other concerns.

When Rose Quartz wasn't checking up on Pearl, she was situated in the Crystal Heart, watching over the geodes as they incubated. She had always brought life on Earth, raising plants from the ground, treating the wildlife, but she had never considered creating the geodes to be something she would grow so attached to. Rose had seen human relationships grow, of course, seen mothers cradling their newborns, seen families grow, but the crystal gems had always been her family. She'd never needed relations on that scale. But somehow since the extraction of their geodes, Rose had been completely drowned in her love for them. Knowing she had spurned their creation, knowing that she would forever be an important part of their existence... there was nothing like it, nothing that could be compared to it. They had completely stolen her heart.

While Amethyst had quickly grown bored watching them do 'a whole sack of nothing', as she'd blatantly put it, she continued to check in every few hours, and found herself drawn to the tiny pearl that was sitting nestled between the two much larger rose quartz geodes. Part of her wondered if it was aware that it was the runt of its family, if it was aware that Pearl had called it 'defective', saw it as inferior to the other geodes. Would she have been the runt of _her_ family of geode siblings, if she had been born out of fusion instead of a Kindergarten? Would that explain why she'd sat cooking in her hole for so long? (Now that she thought about it, Pearl had never explicitly stated it, but did her resentment towards the pearl geode mirror her feelings towards Amethyst? She liked to think they were close; not as close as she was to Rose, mind, but still... Did Pearl consider _her_ defective? The thought made her stomach churn with unease.)

Garnet also found herself enamoured by the geodes, gravitating towards them often, though she made sure to give Amethyst as much attention as she needed while Pearl and Rose were preoccupied. Staring at them for hours on end brought back bitter memories, though; not so much for her, but for Ruby and Sapphire, although their feelings towards the geodes matched so perfectly they might as well have already been Garnet during the event of losing their own geodes thousands of years ago. It was in these quiet moments that the part of Garnet that was entirely unique to Ruby and Sapphire, entirely herself, felt anxious at the prospect of being replaced. It was a silly, impossible thought and she knew it, but it surfaced anyway. Though she tried to hide it, clasping her hands together and staring at them to block out the thoughts, the two gems residing in her subconscious were quick to quell these fears.

_We may miss our offspring,_ Sapphire said calmly, voice filled with warmth,  _but being Garnet has brought us irreplaceable joy._

_We love you, and love being you, so much,_ Ruby affirmed, laughter and affection tinting her voice.  _No geode could ever amount to that love._

_Yes,_ thought Garnet quietly, _I know._ She smiled.

“Well, she's still sleeping, but it doesn't look like she has any more geodes manifesting,” Rose Quartz said softly, moving to stand beside Garnet. “I was worried, going into her gem. It's quite a personal thing, isn't it? I was worried I'd say or do something that would create more unintentionally.”

“Pearl was much too preoccupied with the pain. I doubt her gem would have taken it as a sign to reproduce again,” Garnet said matter of factly. A bubble of laughter escaped Rose's lips.

“I suppose you're right.”

She stared at the geodes in front of her, letting out a small sigh.

“I wonder why she feels that way about the geodes,” Rose murmured, her gaze falling on the tiny pearl geode nestled between the larger rose quartz geodes. “We've never treated her as though she was worth less than us. We have always treated Pearl as she deserves to be treated. She knows we don't believe in the ways of Homeworld.”

“Pearl may be safe from judgement when she is with us, but that doesn't mean she has forgotten about Homeworld. She was treated terribly there,” Garnet pointed out. “It's been a long time, but Pearl would never just forget it ever happened.”

“I wish she would realise how special she is,” Rose muttered, closing her eyes. “I hate to think that she always feels this way. Pearl is so much more than the formation of her gem.” She paused. “Garnet, you don't think she feels this way... because of me, do you? After the things she said to me after our mission, before the extraction... she was so sad and hurt. I hate to think that I've caused her to feel this way. Oh, why would she sit on that for so long, though?”

Garnet stayed silent for a few moments before speaking.

“...I don't think what happened 200 years ago is the sole cause of her insecurities,” she began. “But I think once she wakes up you need to set the record straight. It might be that she jumped to conclusions, too.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Amethyst asked, bounding up beside them. Rose reached down to ruffle her hair, squeezing her eyes shut to hide the tears gathering behind them.

“Oh, nothing,” she said with a smile. “What have you been up to?”

“Well, I was down by the beach, and I saw this thing in the sand, and it...”  
  


…

 

When Pearl regained consciousness, she was all alone. Her clothes were soaked by the fountain she was lying in, and as she rose shakily to her feet, she reached towards her gem to change clothes. It was tender and she winced as she summoned dry clothes, but the clarity in her head felt like a blessing. There was still a slightly sluggish feeling there (most likely due to the tiresome ordeal of extracting the geodes in the first place) but compared to the months of headaches and fatigue, it felt as fresh as being reformed after a week or so of rest within her gem. Shortly put, it was fantastic.

“I feel great,” she murmured. The realisation hit. “Right-! The – the geodes – how could I have forgotten-”

Granted, she'd been unconscious since the extraction. Senses heightened, head clearer, she took in her surroundings. She could sense the presence of the gems in the temple, and she followed her senses, her feet leading her towards the Crystal Heart. She could hear their voices, a low hum nearly drowned out by the pulsing of the heart.

“How long does the incubation period usually take, Garnet?” Rose's voice asked, sounding distracted, fascinated.

“Approximately one lunar cycle,” Garnet replied, tone unchanged. “That's what Citrine said at the time, but... I can't say for sure. We'll have to take turns watching them for signs of movement.”

“ _Boring_ ,” drawled Amethyst. “Can't we like, set a timer or something? It'd be easier.”

“Amethyst,” chided Rose gently, “these are gems, not pies. The incubation times will probably vary. We can't risk anything going wrong, okay?”

“Ugh, whatever,” grumbled Amethyst, though her voice held no genuine animosity. “I'm going to go check on P.”

“No need,” Pearl uttered, deciding now was as good a time as any to make an appearance. She smoothed down her hair sheepishly. “I, uh, I'm here now.”

Amethyst's face split into a grin. “Well hello there, sleepyhead, how nice of you to finally join us. To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“Why did nobody wake me up?” Pearl wanted to know, arms folded over her skinny chest in defiance. “I highly doubt I needed all of those extra hours of rest, I could have functioned just fine on-”

“Oh hush, you worked hard, you deserved the rest,” Rose interrupted, moving away from her spot by the Crystal Heart to reach for Pearl's hands. “Are you feeling all right now, my Pearl? The extraction wasn't an easy one. There was also the risk of you having a relapse and manifesting even more geodes, so we had to keep checking up on you, but-”

“I'm honestly fine,” Pearl protested. “I promise I am. I – I feel better than I have in ages. My gem feels so light!”

“I'm glad.” Rose laced their fingers together, her face breaking out into a smile. “We have to show you the geodes. They won't be ready to form physical bodies for a while, but they're so enchanting to look at...”

“W-Well that's good, then,” Pearl stammered, making no move to see them for herself. Rose, disheartened by this, glanced at Garnet and Amethyst.

“Would you two give us a moment, please?” she asked sweetly. Garnet nodded and picked up Amethyst.

“Let's take a walk, Amethyst.”

“Oh come on, I wanted to watch this,” grumbled Amethyst.

“I thought you wanted me to help you find that painting in your room.”

“Oh yeah! Sweet, let's do this! Okay, so it looks like a clown...” she began. As their voices grew fainter, Rose turned her attention back to Pearl, who looked uncomfortable at the prospect of the two of them being alone together.

“Come here, Pearl.” She pulled Pearl over towards the Crystal Heart, their hands still entwined. “Up there,” she whispered.

Pearl looked. The two rose quartz geodes were wedged in firmly, and their colour was the same breath-taking pink of Rose's gem. Smooth and round. Perfectly spherical.

“Those two are beautiful,” she commented, hugging her waist. Rose frowned.

“Of course they are. But the third... our little pearl...”

“I can't look at it,” muttered Pearl.

“But why?” The next thing she knew Rose was grabbing her shoulders, forcing their eyes to meet. Hers were brimming with sadness. “There's nothing wrong with the pearl geode! It's smaller than the rose quartz geodes but that's okay! It's meant to be!”

“Rose quartz gems are so grand,” Pearl said, her voice bitter. “They're beautiful, strong gems. Pearls are so... weak. So feeble. I'm glad there was only one. This way, there will only be one defec-”

“ _You're_ not defective!” Rose shook her gently, but her grip was beginning to hurt. “Do you understand, Pearl? There is nothing wrong with you! And there's nothing wrong with that pearl geode. I'm glad that at least one of our geodes was a pearl because that's a part of you to hold onto, no matter what. And a part of me to cherish forever.”

“That can't be true,” said Pearl, and her eyes filled with tears.

“It is,” insisted Rose, leaning down to place a kiss on the centre of her gem. When she pulled away, her grin widened. “It's a lot easier to kiss you now that your gem isn't burning up all of the time,” she joked.

Pearl wrapped her arms around Rose and sunk into the warmth of her embrace, sobbing quietly.

“I was afraid you'd be disappointed in me for producing a pearl,” Pearl wept. “But now it seems so silly to have thought that. You're _Rose_. You see the beauty in everything, even d- even _pearls_.”

“How kind of you, my Pearl,” Rose said with a laugh. “We need to work hard together now. When these geodes become gemlings it'll be our job to guide them.”

“At least they'll grow rapidly,” muttered Pearl. “I can't imagine how tedious it would be if they grew at the rate of human beings.”

 

…

 

“Bet you never thought you'd be raising a gem like me, huh, Pearl?” Steven said with a cheeky grin. She smiled back and ran her hand over his curls affectionately.

“At the time, I never considered such a possibility. Taking care of gemlings made raising you a little easier to handle, though.”

His smile faded and he suddenly looked sheepish.

“Um... Pearl?”

“Yes?”

Steven fidgeted with his hands, squirming under her gaze.

“Steven, what is it?” she asked in concern, her hand moving to squeeze his shoulder.

“Um... did you and Mom... love each other?”

He'd said it.

She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it immediately. What could she say? Steven was already learning so many things about her relationship with Rose, this piece of information could be too much for him to handle. But heavens, if she lied – well, she'd already kept enough things from him, surely it made sense to be more honest about the harmless secrets she held? On some level he probably had suspected for a while, but would he resent her if he found out the truth?

“What gave you that idea, Steven?” she asked.

“Well,” he mumbled, “you always talk about her, and you always look so happy when you think about her. And now, in your story, you keep... kissing each other.” He was blushing. “I thought maybe it was cause you two were in love like how Mom and Dad were. But m-maybe I'm just over-thinking it all.”

For a moment, Rose peeked out in the pink of his cheeks and the yearning for answers in his eyes. She felt powerless to keep the truth from him.

“No, that's right,” she said. She took a deep breath. “Rose and I... our relationship _did_ equate to human love. At the time, anyway.”

“Oh.” Steven paused for a few moments, processing the information, but when he looked up again he met her gaze easily. “But Pearl, even though you and Mom were close, it sounds like you weren't always together like Ruby and Sapphire. Why?”

“W-Well, we wanted different things,” Pearl stammered. “I wanted to love your mother like Ruby and Sapphire did, but we didn't fit together in that way. Rose often fell for other humans, and this wasn't something I held against her, but it put strain on our affections for each other.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “I promise, Steven, it never affected our friendship and teamwork. And how I felt about Rose has never affected how much your presence means to me.”

“I know that,” Steven said quietly, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “Did she ever hurt your feelings, Pearl?”

“Well... you know how complex human relationships are. Gem relationships were unheard of on Homeworld so I suppose our relationships are complex in their own ways. Of course I wanted Rose to love me how I loved her, but – well, your mother, she – she had so much love in her, love that had to be shared. She couldn't burden that on one person alone. Yes, sometimes it hurt that she would take human lovers, but I couldn't fault her for that. She'd already done so much for me.”

Steven looked guilty, as though he were at fault for asking, so Pearl pulled him into a hug.

“Besides, if not for her taking an interest in humans, none of us would have you. It was a blessing, Steven, it really was.” He still bit his lip, guilt gnawing at him. Pearl held him a little tighter. “It isn't your fault, you know. Please don't feel responsible.”

“Did you at least talk it out?” he mumbled into her shoulder. “You know, the fight you had?”

“We did,” Pearl confirmed, squeezing him a little bit tighter. “I promise we did.”

 

…

 

“Can I come in, Pearl?”

Pearl sat up and peered over the top of the fountain she was situated on, spotting Rose at the edge of the water. Wordlessly she dipped beneath the fountain's surface, emerging less than a metre away from Rose.

“Of course, Rose. Is something wrong? Is it the geodes?”

“They're fine, still cooking. No, it's just – we need to talk, Pearl. About what happened before the extraction, and what we promised during.”

Pearl swallowed and stared down at her feet, cheeks burning.

“Oh.”

“Come now, it won't be so bad. I just want us to talk things out. I need to make sure we understand each other.”

“Okay,” murmured Pearl, exhaling softly. She dragged her eyes up to meet Rose's, and held out a hand. “Take my hand. I'll take us up.”

Their fingers laced together and as Rose stepped out onto the water she was surprised to find in Pearl's control her feet didn't slip through; just as quickly they were submerged, and appeared again on a smaller fountain than the usual one Pearl liked to stand on. It was small, surrounded by taller ones like some sort of fence.

“It feels more private here,” muttered Pearl, noticing Rose's surprise.

“Okay then.” They both sat down, and Rose rested her hand atop of Pearl's. “How are you feeling right now?”

“Nervous. Foolish for feeling so nervous,” Pearl deadpanned. Rose laughed.

“I meant in your gem. How you're faring since the extraction. Garnet still wants to keep a close eye on you. And I care too.”

“Oh.” Pearl blushed a little, inwardly berating herself. “I-I'm fine. I feel good, really. My gem only aches when I go to use the inner sanctum, and my temperature is consistent. I think if I were producing more geodes I would know by now.”

“It's not like this would be the firs time you hid your symptoms from us,” Rose joked, and Pearl lowered her head.

“Right... sorry...”

“No, please, it was only me teasing. I'm sorry, it wasn't funny.” Rose cursed herself for slipping up like that. “But Pearl, I need to talk to you about what happened. If we don't now things will go back to how they were. I can't do that again. I don't want to upset you any further.”

Pearl nodded, unable to speak, and Rose dove into her prepared speech.

“My dear Pearl, first and foremost I wish to apologise to you. I often don't realise how selfish I can be, and I also seem to be bad at reading situations like these. Even so, on some level I knew what I was doing was unfair, so I must apologise. I'm so sorry that I made you feel confused and... defective.” She swallowed. “I never wanted that to happen. My dear, there is nothing wrong with you. I feel like our days on Homeworld were so long ago now, I often forget they were even a problem. It seems like it hasn't been that simple for you. I just wish you'd told me.”

“There's nothing to tell.” Pearl rested her chin on her knees, looking small. “I mess up, I think the wrong things, lash out...”

“You react like any other gem. You were meant for greater things than what you were born into, Pearl. I wanted to save you from that when we started the rebellion. I wanted you to realise your potential and flourish, bloom, find your own way. If I've been holding you back, I'm so sorry. All I've ever wanted was for you to be happy.”

Pearl shrugged, shaking his head in disbelief. “Even so... Rose, the things I said to you...”

“They were eye-opening. This whole time, I told myself I was concerned about your feelings for me, but instead I ignored them and allowed myself to kiss you and hold you without guilt. I'm sorry for making things so complicated.” Rose swallowed, feeling the gravity of her mistakes in that moment. She'd really messed up this time.

“The truth is, when I broke things off with you all those years ago, I was just worried that you were beginning to depend on me too much. I didn't want things to go back to how they were during the rebellion, when you would sacrifice yourself for me at any opportunity, even if it meant putting your own life at risk. I wanted you to keep going with that mindset of independence. But I also wanted to hold you and kiss you. You still mean the world to me, Pearl. I'm sorry for confusing you. Truthfully, I've confused myself.”

Pearl tried to take in all that Rose had told her, and found herself disbelieving.

“You've wanted to be with me this whole time?” she asked uncertainly, unsure that she was understanding correctly. “Even when you told me to stop?”

“Yes,” sighed Rose. Her face was caked with an uncharacteristic blush, and she squeezed Pearl's hand tightly. “I never stopped wanting you, Pearl. I was a fool for trying to convince myself of that, and an even bigger fool for convincing you of that. I never wanted you to feel unloved. I never want you to feel that way again. Everything about yourself you think is defective is just another thing that I love, that Garnet and Amethyst love. That I wish _you_ would love. If my actions have made these thoughts resurface, I really am sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”

“They never went away, Rose. Even when we were together.” Pearl felt tears prick her eyes and she blinked them back, hyper aware that Rose was watching her carefully. “I suppose I feigned confidence so well I began to believe it myself. But I can't keep fooling myself, Rose. No matter what, the thoughts never go away. I'll always be defective. Even if _you_ tell me I'm not, I don't think I can believe it.”

“I want you to try,” Rose said quietly, and she wrapped her arms around Pearl tightly, pulling her onto her lap. “Not for me, for yourself. Please try and remember how much you mean to us all. How we do as you do and how that doesn't make us defective, but instead makes us who we are, makes us gems. Individuality is something to be proud of. Homeworld was wrong in its teachings, Pearl. You and I are the same.”

“That's not true,” Pearl protested, resting her head against Rose's chest. She hid her face in Rose's creamy skin, breathing in her scent as hot tears stung her eyes. “I can't do it for me right now,” she whispered. “But just for a little while... can I try to believe it for your sake instead?”

“Of course.” Rose pressed a soft kiss to Pearl's hair and pulled her closer. “Not forever, but... until you believe it yourself, believe it for me. I would be so pleased if you would do that, Pearl.”

“Okay,” Pearl agreed in a hushed voice, and she leaned up, her brow meeting Rose's lips before her nose grazed it and eventually her own small lips, a greeting which was answered eagerly by a soft hum from Rose's mouth which buzzed on Pearl's tongue and sent a shiver down her makeshift spine. Her toes curled instinctively as she deepened the kiss, and when they broke apart warm giggles bubbled up from Rose, and she rested her chin atop of Pearl's head, her soft ringlets coiling down and brushing against Pearl's cheek, her neck, her shoulders.

“I've missed this,” she admitted, and Pearl couldn't stop the grin that broke out on her face.

“Me too,” she affirmed with a laugh of her own, her arms curling around Rose's waist.

 

…

 

“Woah,” Steven exclaimed. He had a weird grin on his face, and Pearl's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“What is that expression for, Steven?”

“Oh nothing,” he sighed, flopping down face first and then rolling over onto his back. “You and Mom sounded like you really cared about each other.”

“We did. But now you know that.” Pearl blushed a little, but a wistful smile wormed onto her face anyway. “The rare times we fought only seemed to bring us closer together. We'd understand each other better after arguing, we'd feel closer. Sometimes we'd fuse, but with everything that had happened the last time we fused... well, it didn't feel like such a good idea.”

Steven contemplated what she meant for a few moments, before another nagging thought surfaced.

“Hey, Pearl, I have a question about fusion.”

“Oh?” Pearl smiled a little uncertainly. “What is it?”

“Can fusions change? Like, completely?” He frowned. “You said that you and Mom formed Morganite when you fused on the island. But in the video of the band, you and Mom formed Rainbow Quartz. They're completely different gems, right?”

“Well... yes, since of course rainbow quartz are a type of quartz whereas morganites are from the beryl family-”

“That isn't what I'm asking, though,” Steven explained, frustrated. “Pearl, if you're going to tell me these things, please don't dodge my questions? I... I'm a part of the crystal gems too, you guys always say so. You can trust me.”

Pearl bit her lip. She wasn't completely ready to tell him the truth regarding how that change had come to be, but... it was too late now, wasn't it? She'd already started the conversation, it would be unfair of her to stop it.

“You're right, Steven. I'm sorry, it's just – it's hard to talk about. But you have answers. I suppose I'll have to answer them as best as I can.” She took a deep breath. “Steven, in extremely rare circumstances gems can will their fusions to shift. This can be due to a drastic change in the personality of one or more of the gems making up the fusion initially. Sometimes it can be pinned down to an event that has gravely damaged the emotional stability of one or more of the gems involved. In the case of Morganite, it was the latter. In the end, Rose and I ended up forming Rainbow Quartz. Sometimes, when a gem has emotionally healed, the original fusion can be revived, but in our case that didn't happen. Rainbow Quartz remained our fusion and we embraced her as she was. She didn't need to ask what happened to bring her into existence, she simply allowed herself to be without question. She knew we were hurting. She really was the most loyal fusion I have ever formed. Not that my track record is all that impressive.”

She laughed bitterly, and Steven swallowed, hoping the conversation wouldn't lull on the unspoken topic of the Sardonyx incident for too long. He reached over and squeezed her hand.

“So what was it that created Rainbow Quartz?” he asked quietly. Pearl bit her lip.

“Oh, well... that's something that has to be explained much further in the story.”

“I guess I'll just have to be patient then,” he said with a grin, and she smiled back faintly, squeezing his hand in return.

“I guess so.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so tired. It's 5am. I'm heading out. Leave a comment maybe? <3 Next chapter we'll be seeing the geodes form into gemlings!! AAAAND I still need names for the gemlings! I haven't decided on any yet, ugh...


	7. Larkspur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl paused her tale in regard to the fit of laughter Steven had erupted into.  
> “What's so funny?”  
> “Y-You tried to eat a bed?” he giggled, snickering helplessly. “That doesn't sound like you at all.”  
> Pearl blushed.  
> “W-Well, yes... I had my reasons for doing so, of course, and I would never suggest you ever try such a thing!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL THIS TOOK LONG ENOUGH  
> and this is actually not a drill, there is finally an update, it only took until 2016 but okay  
> Warnings for this chapter: some pretty weird shit, like metal eating, lactating, a lotta homeworld gem egg hell context, that kinda thing. it's not particularly... in detail or anything?? just like, factual. so, sorry if that squicks you out, but this chapter is a little more about carrying gem biology than the rest so far.  
> ALSO IS ANYONE ELSE EXCITED FOR BABIES

“So, the geodes.” Steven tried to drive the conversation back, noticing that Pearl's eyes had dulled in the same way they always did when she spoke of his mother, or the gem war, or other topics she found painful to recall. (That said, it wasn't like talking about the geodes was any better.)

“Right. Right, the geodes.” Pearl took a deep breath. “What then...? Oh, but Steven, it's really late. It's almost – ah, oh my goodness, it's almost three in the morning, we need to wrap this up right now.”

“Aww, no way,” moaned Steven. He flopped back on his pillows. “At least don't leave it there. At least tell me what happened when they formed and became gemlings, I wanna know!”

“Right, well, it'll be quick, all right, Steven? This can continue another time, so...”

 

…

 

It was three weeks into the incubation of the geodes that Amethyst noticed something odd.

“How are they doing?” asked Amethyst as she entered the cave. Pearl was just exiting, presumably from the Crystal Heart, but she was oddly fidgety, and her face somehow looked even paler than usual.

 

“Fine,” she answered distantly. “Um. Do they sell iron-rich goods anywhere near here?”

“Uh, how should I know?” Amethyst quirked a brow. “Honestly, Pearl, you're acting even weirder than usual. I thought things were supposed to go back to normal now that the geodes are out.”

“Things _are_ normal. Ugh, I wouldn't expect you to understand.”

As Pearl stormed off, Amethyst watched after her with a frown, chest welling up with hurt. That was completely uncalled for. She knew Pearl had been more difficult to deal with during the gestation period, but that was behind them now, so what was with the cold shoulder?

After a few moments of sulking, she watched Pearl again. The lithe gem was sneaking off in the direction of the small town, and instantly Amethyst's curiosity piqued. It was no secret that Pearl wasn't fond of the humans she had so passionately vowed to protect; though Rose's most recent human lover had been gone a good twenty years, Pearl still made no effort to visit the local town where the late Florence Russo had settled, so it was unusual for her to venture out since the gems didn't have much need for it (sometimes Amethyst would sneak over to steal a few apples, or Rose would come to socialise with her many human admirers, but that was about it).

Stranger still, she was heading straight for the blacksmiths.

Maybe Pearl was looking to have something built for the gemlings once they formed? Some sort of iron pen or something so they could be kept in line until they formed enough common sense not to get in her way? That seemed like a very Pearl thing to do.

However, Amethyst noticed Pearl wasn't heading for the front door at all. No, glancing left and right, checking no humans were watching, she ducked around the back. It was still early morning, and the metals were just being heated up for the first tool-making of the day, judging by the lack of humans milling around. Amethyst tiptoed around the side to see what Pearl was up to – and stared. Steam was rising from the piping hot container Pearl was gripping in her hands, and Amethyst saw the liquid metal just moment before Pearl lifted it to her lips and _drank_.

She could see the quick, sharp gulps Pearl was taking of the scalding liquid iron, and Amethyst stared on in horror, wondering how she was managing that when she could normally barely manage a mouthful of fire salt without needing to dunk her head in one of her fountains. Quickly Pearl finished and, glancing around, hastily deposited the pot now devoid of welding iron back in its place. It meant a little more work for the humans, but nothing they couldn't handle.

Pearl wiped her mouth with the back of her hand rather uncharacteristically, before ambling off towards the temple again. As she passed by her Amethyst reached out and grabbed her arm, tugging her behind one of the small houses the humans lived in.

“Amethyst!” cried Pearl. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

“What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here, taking their supplies?” Amethyst hissed. “You know Rose would be furious if she found out-”

“She's not going to find out!” Pearl smelt strongly of the metal, and Amethyst twisted out of her way, grimacing. “You won't tell her, will you?”

“I don't know. Why the hell were you doing that anyway? Since when have you started eating metal?”

“I-I don't know, I couldn't fight off the feeling I needed to-” She wiped her mouth again, emitting a soft burp far more akin to a hiccup and sagging a little. “Excuse me. That I needed to, um. Ingest iron. It sounds strange, I know, but it's the truth. I won't do it again. Please don't tell Rose.”

“What kind of urge is _that_?”

Pearl huffed a little in frustration.

“I already told you I can't explain it any better than that! Are you going to keep it a secret or not?”

“Do I really have a choice?”

Amethyst stared Pearl down and folded her arms.

“You promise you won't do it again?”

“I promise.” Amethyst held her gaze for a few moments before nodding, and the two made their way back to the temple in a strange silence.

“I'm going back to check on the geodes, then,” Pearl said quietly. A few minutes after she had entered the temple Rose left her own room, stretching and stepping out into the morning sun.

“Ah, good morning, Amethyst,” she smiled.

“G-Good morning, Rose!”

Rose peered down at little Amethyst curiously. The usually upbeat and cheerful gem appeared to be uncomfortable in her presence.

“Is something the matter, Amethyst?”

“No...”

Amethyst fidgeted and refused to meet her gaze, so Rose knelt down beside her.

“You don't want to talk to me about it?”

“...I promised not to.”

Rose sighed and sat down against the cave wall, pulling Amethyst into her lap and stroking through the fluffy mop she sported.

“Who did you promise not to talk to me, Amethyst?”

“Pearl.”

“Ah...” It was true that Pearl had been acting somewhat strangely again since the geodes were out, being unusually short with everyone and disappearing for short periods of time. Each time she tried to follow her up on it, Pearl would find a way to twist the conversation onto something else. It was high time Rose got to the bottom of it.

“You can tell me if you want, Amethyst. I sired the geodes, it's my responsibility to look after her.”

Amethyst appeared to be internally debating for a few moments, before finally caving to Rose's soft cuddle.

“Rose, Pearl stole some metal from the humans,” Amethyst gabbled, snuggling in closer to Rose's soft chest. “It wasn't a lot, honest, it was just one container this morning, but it was really weird, Rose, because she didn't just take it, she _drank_ it! And Pearl _never_ eats or drinks, s-so this is... this is really weird and it scared me.”

Rose frowned first of all; they had agreed to never take vital supplies from the humans' settlements, at least not without their expressed permission, so to hear that Pearl broke that vow was disappointing. But Amethyst was right in that it just didn't sound like something Pearl would do. Especially if she was ingesting it rather than pinching it for a personal project.

“That _is_ strange. I had noticed she's been sneaking off more recently... Garnet mentioned her asking after some metal a few days ago, but I didn't realise what she wanted it for.” Rose gave Amethyst a quick peck on the cheek before scooping her up and setting her down on the sand. “I'm going to go talk to her. She's been avoiding me these past few days, and now I know why.”

“B-But Rose, I wasn't supposed to tell you!” cried Amethyst. “If Pearl finds out I did she'll be so mad at me!”

Rose smiled at her fondly and shook her head, running a calming hand through her hair.

“She won't, Amethyst. I will tell her a human from the village informed me instead.”

Before Amethyst had the chance to protest further, Rose headed into her room and took a long passageway in the direction of the Crystal Heart. As she approached, she could see the lithe silhouette of Pearl's figure and called out.

“Pearl, can we talk for a moment?” Rose asked. Pearl jumped and quickly stopped crunching on what looked to be some sort of crafted tool, taking it out of her mouth and putting it back into her gem, before turning around.

“R-Rose! Of course we... of course we can.” She already looked pretty guilty.

Rose took her hand in hers.

“A human told me they saw a white gem stealing this morning from the blacksmiths, Pearl.”

Pearl flinched.

“...A-A corrupted gem, maybe? We should investigate it immedia-”

“Not a corrupted gem, Pearl.”

Pearl fell silent, and her lips began to quiver. Rose felt guilty for putting Pearl on the spot, but knew it had to be done.

“Oh, Pearl, what's going on? What could you possibly need it for?”

“I don't know, Rose!” There were tears in Pearl's eyes when she finally faced her. “I-I don't know, I just got this need for it. It was just so _overpowering_ , like nothing I've ever felt before. I can't explain it, it just... overtook me. I'm so sorry.” She hugged herself, looking thoroughly ashamed. “I understand if you're disappointed in me. I just can't give a better explanation than that.”

“You really don't know why you felt the need to ingest hot iron?”

Pearl shook her head woefully.

“Hmm. Maybe it's some sort of maternal instinct? Seems rather carnal for a gem, though. I'll ask Garnet about it.”

“N-No! It's embarrassing, please don't tell Garnet,” begged Pearl.

It hurt Rose to see Pearl so frantic, and she pulled her into a hug.

“My Pearl, if it's nothing to worry about, we'll never have to speak of it again. But if it _is_ a cause for concern, I have to know about that. I need to tell Garnet about it.” She stroked Pearl's hair, feeling the tense body calm down in her arms. “I'm sorry you don't like that, but it's my responsibility to look out for you.”

 

…

 

“That doesn't sound very fair,” Steven said with a frown. “You asked Mom not to tell Garnet and she did anyway.”

“In hindsight, it was a good thing she did, Steven.” Pearl sighed. “It was easier to let Garnet know _before_ the geodes hatched, after all. Although, Garnet couldn't determine exactly what I was going through at that stage in time.”

“She didn't?” Steven appeared genuinely concerned. “But Garnet knows nearly everything! Couldn't she see it with her future vision?”

“Future vision is a lot more complicated than Garnet lets on, Steven,” Pearl explained. She fiddled with her hands. “It contains a lot of variables, and since nobody knew what I was going through, it was difficult for her to grasp for probable futures too.”

 

…

 

“Hmm. That _is_ strange.”

Garnet and Rose were returning to the warp pad following a mediocre mission when Rose had broached the topic.

“I don't want to make a big deal out of it if nothing is the matter,” Rose explained with a sigh. “But we can't have her stealing from the nearby towns, you know? The humans are already afraid of us gems, the last thing they need is us stealing their supplies. We need to find a solution.”

“Knowing the reasoning behind it all would be a good place to start.”

Rose exhaled.

“That's the thing, Garnet. She _doesn't_ understand why she's doing it. I know that wasn't an excuse, I could tell from the way she was looking at me. Whatever was happening, it was some sort of carnal instinct. I just don't know why it's happening _now._ ”

Garnet folded her arms and hummed.

“Well, back during the rebellion I heard a rumour about a gem back on Homeworld who was found eating their own machinery parts. Guards thought she had started to corrupt until they found that she was hiding a clutch of gemlings in her room.”

“So it's related to carrying?” Rose guessed. “I figured as such, but...”

“I don't know for sure. Ruby and Sapphire both carried and they never once craved metals during gestation or following, so I don't know if there is any connection there.”

“Maybe it only affects _certain_ carrying gems?” Rose suggested. “What type of gem was this one in the rumour?”

“An amber, I believe.”

“Well, maybe after extraction, a carrying gem with a low Mohs is weak and needs to build up their strength,” Rose inputted thoughtfully as they arrived at the warp pad. “Maybe consuming pure metals or metal alloys can provide them with enough minerals to compensate for the energy taken by the developing geodes.”

“But that doesn't make any sense.” Garnet's arms were folded, her expression blank save for the slight frustrated twitching of her lower lip that occurred whenever she was trying to figure out the solution to a difficult problem. “An amber shouldn't need _metals_ to build its strength up again. What I can't understand is why what occurred happened to _that_ particular gem. Ambers are formed through _biological_ means, like pearls.”

Rose's eyes widened.

“You're right, they are! Why would either need to consume metal? Wouldn't it suffice for Pearl to consume products enriched with calcium, since her gem is largely calcium-based? Or for an amber to rely on syrups and other forms of sap?”

“That's only if our theory of needing to rebuild strength is correct,” Garnet reminded Rose, putting a hand on her shoulder to return her attention to the key question. “We don't actually know if that stands true. If it isn't the case, what could it be?”

“Your future vision isn't giving you any straight answers?” Rose questioned. Garnet shook her head.

“Unfortunately, I'm not getting anything. If I don't even know what the possible explanations behind Pearl's behaviour could be, how can I look for solutions in the futures? I won't know until more details are filled in.”

Not for the first time since this mess started, Garnet wished Ruby and Sapphire had asked Citrine far more probing questions about the aftermath of geode formation before she had been horrifically crushed during battle. From here on out, they were in unknown territory.

They warped back and arrived to the sight of the temple door open, and Amethyst trying to tug a lithe figure out from her room.

“Pearl, stop it!! You said it was a one time thing, so get out!”

“Woah, what's going on here?” Rose interrupted. Amethyst, momentarily distracted, lost the tug of war and toppled backwards, landing at Rose's feet.

“Rose, she's in my room!” Amethyst whined. “She's eating through my favourite bed frame!”

Garnet picked up Amethyst and set her back on her feet again while Rose headed into Amethyst's room, immediately spotting Pearl attempting to hide somewhere with the bed in tow.

“Pearl, stop.”

Pearl froze, and then started trying to flee once more.

“Pearl, please!” Rose hurried over and pulled on the bed, which had clearly had several bites out of it. “Don't run away, talk to me.”

“I've gotta... I've gotta,” mumbled Pearl, more to herself than Rose.

“I know, my Pearl, I know,” Rose said gently, as Pearl pulled indignantly on the bed. “I'm sure we can find you some iron supplements far easier to consume than Amethyst's bed frame, though.”

It took a few more minutes of coaxing Pearl to release the bed, but eventually Pearl moved away and into Rose's arms instead. She rubbed her back soothingly and pressed kisses into Pearl's hair.

“Come on, we can find something else for you. I'm sure there are some other metal instruments we could find for you! Or some meats rich with iron, perhaps...”

With one last pleading glance back at the bed frame, Pearl allowed herself to be led out.

 

…

 

Pearl paused her tale in regard to the fit of laughter Steven had erupted into.

“What's so funny?”

“Y-You tried to eat a bed?” he giggled, snickering helplessly. “That doesn't sound like you at all.”

Pearl blushed.

“W-Well, yes... I had my reasons for doing so, of course, and I would never suggest you ever try such a thing!”

“Well, what _was_ wrong with you?” Steven asked, once his laughter had ceased. He yawned and blinked a few times.

“Oh, well, I will get to that part at some point, won't I?” Pearl pointed out. “Anyway, you really need to sleep, Steven. Isn't Connie supposed to be visiting tomorrow?”

“But you didn't even get to the part where the geodes hatch,” Steven whined. “Please, please tell me how that went down first?”

“Even if it doesn't solve the metal mystery?” she asked with a smile.

“Well you said so yourself, you'll tell me eventually,” he grinned in response.

“I suppose I did. Then without further ado, the day they hatched...”

 

…

 

The first movements woke Amethyst up from the light nap she was taking while on watch because of the tinkling sound of a gem starting to form. Lazily she cracked an eye open, thinking maybe it was her imagination, but balked when she spotted one of the geodes shimmering and quaking animatedly, far more erratic than the odd bursts of light being given off in the past week.

“Woah!” She leapt to her feet, taking a step back before realising what was happening. “D-Don't move! The others need to see this!”

Staring the geode down for a few moments more, Amethyst sped out of the Crystal Heart and down the nearest corridor, until she came to Garnet's room.

“Garnet!” she yelped. “Garnet, one of the geodes is forming!”

Immediately the door opened and Garnet emerged.

“You're sure?”

“One of the pinkies, Rose's, it's tingly and shimmering like it's trying to form,” Amethyst explained. “Except it's consistent, not like the last few instances! I think it's for real this time!”

“I'll head there now. Go locate Rose and Pearl and bring them down immediately.”

“Got it!”

Garnet would make sure it was okay. Of course she would. Amethyst raced along to Rose's room, stumbling through staircase after staircase, corridor after corridor. Finally she saw the familiar pink door and burst through, barely even registering how far into fornicating they were (given that only their top halves were exposed, probably not enough to satisfy them).

“Rose, Pearl!” she wheezed, leaning against the door for a moment to catch her breath. Hastily Pearl tugged her shirt up again, turning a vibrant teal.

“Amethyst!! Doors are made to be knocked on, not intruded on!”

“Yeah, yeah, lecture me later! The geodes are tryna form!”

“Properly this time?” Rose asked, climbing off of Pearl and pulling her dress back up to cover her chest. “You mean it?”

“Yeah, and if you don't hurry, you might miss it!”

Rose furrowed her brow in concentration.

“Room, I urgently request a door to the Crystal Heart,” she commanded, and a few moments later a doorway appeared in a puff of pink clouds, which trailed away to reveal a simple door frame leading through. Rose reached for both of them, scooping Pearl and Amethyst up and holding them to her sides, before marching on through.

When she deposited them down again, Garnet had moved the geodes to the floor, where she had propped them up in a blanket of sorts that must have been stored in her gem. The rose quartz gem was shimmering and flickering uncertainly, wavering between the possibility of forming a gemling and whether or not to incubate a short while longer. Beside it, the pearl was blitzing a recurring intense light too, though with less frequency than its sibling.

“The pearl too?” Rose murmured. Her eyes were glimmering. “They matured at the same rate...”

“But what about the other rose quartz geode?” Pearl wondered, peering at it worriedly as it lay motionless on the ground.

“It might need some time,” Garnet suggested. “I imagine geodes vary, depending on how ready the gem is to form.”

“So Rosie Two is the runt of the litter?” guessed Amethyst. “Huh. I figured it would be the pearl.”

“That's something that can be debated later. Look.” Garnet gestured at the rose quartz geode, which was now at a near continuous glow. “Rosie One is trying to form.”

After a few more stutters, the gem finally peaked and began to rise from the blankets, hovering just six inches above ground level. Rose and Pearl exchanged puzzled glances.

“I imagine this is due to the fact that their bodies will be soft,” Garnet informed them, sensing their confusion. “The impact created from falling from a greater height could potentially damage their bodies.”

The gem spluttered once more, and then a glowing form overtook it, billowing outwards and growing brighter and brighter until the shell cracked and fell away in a burst of fragmented geode pieces. Rose darted forward to shield the geodes from the debris and Amethyst shook bigger chunks from her hair with a bewildered expression. In place of the geode was now a definite proud rose quartz gem, framed by the same form of a standard gem mannequin figure, albeit far smaller than the average gem. In fact, the gemling itself was only roughly a foot tall, and its curls protruded wildly from its head, much like Rose's. It fleshed out and with a pop, the colours of its form snapped into place. A pink gemling holding a striking resemblance to Rose plopped down onto the blanket and yawned. Her eyes had yet to open, and she took a few moments to sniff the air around her before picking up the scent of other gems and emitting a mewl.

“Oh my goodness,” whispered Pearl, a hand clapped over her mouth.

“She's here,” Rose cried, her face breaking out into a contagious smile.

The rose quartz gemling was entirely naked, the concept of constructing clothing seemingly beyond her comprehension. She mewled again as she registered the scent of her carrier gem, and with that offering, food. She reached out a tubby hand in the direction of Rose and Pearl before losing her balance to her hair and toppling backwards. Her soft tummy held in it a glimmering pink gem which shone excitedly in the soft lights of the Crystal Heart.

“Oopsie daisy,” grinned Rose, in an imitation of how human parents often spoke to their offspring. She helped the rosebud sit up again. “You'll be okay. Gosh, it must be hard starting brand new. But don't worry, we can help you through it.”

“She's so small,” exclaimed Pearl. She reached a hand out gingerly and stroked the edge of the gemling's cheek. “I don't think I've ever seen a gemling before. Certainly not a newborn.”

“Well, she looks perfectly healthy,” commented Garnet. “But we'll have to keep an eye on the gemlings to make sure they don't obtain any injuries or illnesses that could poof them. If a gemling poofs so young it is nearly impossible for them to reform.”

Pearl scooped up the gemling and held her close, relishing how warm and soft the newborns body was against hers.

“I won't let any harm come to her,” she said fiercely. She felt oddly warm, prickly all over, though maybe it was just her emotions swaying. “I'll protect her with my life.”

“I will too,” vowed Rose. She put an arm around Pearl, peering down at their little one with eyes that brimmed over with adoration. “I hope you all will look out for her too.”

“Of course.”

“Uh, guys?” Amethyst piped up nervously. “The other one is starting up too.”

Their heads turned, and the small pearl geode was twinkling, shaking a little as it rose up and levitated for a few moments, taking its time forming. The geode finally burst into fragments that Pearl immediately shielded their gemling from. The rosebud was beginning to whine at the noise, as if to demand what was going on.

“Shh, it's okay,” murmured Pearl, bouncing the baby like she had seen Rose do with countless human infants in the past. The gemling sucked on its fist and quietened down.

The body of the pearl gemling was beginning to form, and she was far smaller than the rosebud had been – but then again, since she was a pearl, they had suspected as much. Her gem was so small, and would undoubtedly grow with time. She also formed naked, and landed on her back instead of her rump, emitting a sharp wail at the contact.

“Oh, dear,” fussed Rose, reaching up to hold her. “Dear, dear, did that hurt? Oh – she's dented a little – how long does that take to snap back into place, Garnet?”

“Depends how out of shape she is. That's only a minor dent, that will resume regular shape in an hour at the most.”

Rose cooed and rubbed the back of the peeper's head, and her mouth was pulled into a wide grin.

“What a cute gemling you are, sweetie. I love you so much already.”

The peeper was wriggling and sniffing the air with her sharp nose, searching for the scent of her carrier gem. She let out a serious of shrill peeps once she picked up on Pearl's scent, and she started squirming more ferociously than ever.

“I think she wants to meet you, Pearl,” Rose giggled, but Pearl could see the fear at bay in her eyes, the niggling doubt that Pearl would grow to love this gemling at all. She wasn't wild about this predicament, but she hated the thought of Rose doubting her even more.

“Well, we can trade,” muttered Pearl, who gave the newborn rosebud one last chaste forehead kiss before opening the palm of her hand for the peeper. Rose ever so gently placed her in Pearl's hand, skritching the top of her plume of peach pink hair with her finger, before taking the rosebud into her arms and cuddling her.

“It's very nice to meet you, darling,” gushed Rose, giggling as a starfish hand curled around her finger.

“Guys?” Amethyst ventured nervously. “What about the last geode?”

The last rose quartz geode sat dully in the blanket, and hadn't stirred the entire time. Garnet picked it up gently.

“It may need more time to incubate. Every geode is different. We'll just have to keep a closer eye on it.”

She gently slotted the gemling back into its place in the Crystal Heart, spending a moment to stroke the surface with one hand, before crouching back down again to observe the new gemlings.

Pearl stared the tiny gemling down, staring almost in disbelief at the perfectly round pearl in the centre of her forehead. The gemling seemed eager to meet Pearl, nipping at her fingers with purpose.

After only moments of being placed in Rose's arms, the rosebud also started to squirm, wiggling in an attempt to be put down. A little startled, Rose obliged. The rosebud rolled clumsily further to Pearl and nipped at her knees, startling her. The peeper very nearly toppled right out of her hands.

“What the-?”

At that moment, Pearl's body felt nearly unbearably hot. She took a shallow breath, and then felt one of the oddest sensations of her life – _dampness_ on her skin. What on Earth...?

“Oh my god.” Amethyst was the first to break the stunned silence, staring with her mouth agape as the gemlings began mewling and peeping happily, moving closer to Pearl still.

Pearl's skin was shining. Or rather, beads of a filmy liquid were beginning to break out on every visible patch of skin on her body. She stared in horror as the gemlings began treading her arm and leg respectively, noses going wild as they sniffed at the filmy substance.

“Garnet, what is this...?” Rose whispered, staring in a mixture of horror and fascination. Garnet, on the other hand, was beginning to smile, her mouth stretching into a wide grin.

“I don't believe it. I had my suspicions, but...”

The gemlings bit down lightly on Pearl's exposed flesh and began to make contented suckling sounds.

“Our girl here,” Garnet said with an impossibly wide smile, “is lactating.”

 

…

 

Steven's face had contorted between amazement to a morbidly curious expression.

“What is... lactating?” he asked with a furrowed brow. “It sounded like they were eating your skin.”

Pearl blushed. “They weren't eating my _skin_! Honestly. Lactating, Steven, is the process wherein a mother creates a milk to provide their offspring with before they can handle more solid foods. Like how human mothers breastfeed their babies.”

Understanding dawned.

“So you were... breastfeeding from your arms and legs? I don't really get it.”

Pearl sighed and projected a hologram from her gem, featuring the same faceless gem from the past illustrated examples. This time, however, droplets of a milky substance were dotted all over the body.

“A platypus will secrete milk from glands all over their skin, and apparently, gems work in the same way. Our 'milk' of sorts is far different to human or animal milk, though, Steven – it is high in minerals, particularly metal supplements such as iron, in order to strengthen the gemlings, both their gems and their light bodies. For instance, gemlings are extremely soft at birth, and can be squished and dented out of shape, similar to plasticine. However, if you did that to me, there is no way that I would dent like that unless I was shapeshifting and wished to.”

“But you, Garnet and Amethyst said you were never gemlings,” Steven pointed out. Pearl shook her head.

“No, no. Garnet was never a gemling because she was a fusion. Amethyst was never a gemling because she absorbed all of the necessary nutrients from the ground. But I, on the other hand, was bred on a... special facility from a carrier gem, Nacre. Both Garnet and Amethyst have been fully grown from the moment of their respective births, but I was once a gemling. But if you prod my body or my gem, nothing will happen, because I have fully matured. That's why gemlings require the ammonia – the substance – in the first place.”

“I don't understand why none of the others understood what was going on, though. If some gems are born from c-carrier gems, and some from the ground, wouldn't they have heard more about it?”

“Homeworld was a complicated place, Steven,” Pearl explained with a sigh. “It... had a lot of underground practices. Unless they were involved in the production of these carried gems, most gems were kept in the dark about the process. After all, they had a very controlled system of gem reproduction, and they couldn't risk hybrid gems being born. It would wreck the caste system – the political system of the planet, I mean. It was all... very, very political.”

“I don't understand, but... okay?” Steven hummed. “So the gemlings were like my sisters. What were they like?”

“Oh, very much like your mother,” Pearl sighed, a wistful smile on her face. “Stubborn to a fault, courageous, although courage was something they lacked in the beginning. They were very skilled fighters... and we all loved them very much.”

“Tell me their names? Their interests? Please tell me!” Steven was nearly bouncing up and down.

“No, no, no. I promised you I would tell you the story of their formation. You'll never wake up in time to see Connie tomorrow if we stay up any longer. And I... I have to pay a visit to them, Steven. It's been a long time, and I've been burying their memory.”

“Fiiiiiine.” Steven flopped back in his bed, and almost immediately the fatigue hit. Pearl leaned forward and pressed a shy kiss to his hair, before standing up.

“Pearl?” he mumbled sleepily as she went to leave.

“...Yes, Steven?”

He yawned.

“At least... at least tell me how long it took for the other geode to form.”

Pearl clutched at her sash and took a deep breath.

“...That's a story for another night, Steven. Please be patient for me.”

Without looking back, she climbed down the ladder, crossed the warp pad and headed into the temple.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is nearly the end of part 1. honestly, i didn't think this fic would drag on for more than 7-8 chapters but people really like it so much... i'm going to have to really take a break to cook up more ideas for this fic. or at least wait until i have an outline before continuing with part 2. there will be an epilogue to this part, coming up within the next week hopefully, and then some radio silence for a while since i'll be generating plot points.  
> thank you so much for reading this far, and please leave a comment if you've enjoyed the journey of this fic so far! you've been lovely people to write for o/ onwards to stevenbomb 4!!


	8. Interlude I: The Gemlings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I can handle the truth!” Steven promised. “But only if Pearl's okay with it. She was so scared last night.”  
> “Believe me, she's happy to let somebody else do the talking,” Garnet stated, her visor winking in the sunlight as she adjusted it. “I believe me and Amethyst both played sufficient roles in the story. We raised those gemlings too, you know.”  
> “Yeah, they were rascals,” giggled Amethyst. “Believe me, they were troublemakers. They put you to shame, Steven.”  
> “Well, tell me about them, then!” Steven declared. “What were their names, what were they like? Give me something to go on!”  
> Garnet hummed, a smile of bubbled up nostalgia on her face.  
> “Well, I suppose you should make yourselves comfy, then. Their early days were filled with adventure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes, well, i'm going to a wedding today and won't be on for the weekend, and I'm so, so busy these next two weeks, so here is the interlude before act 2 begins!

Steven couldn't stop thinking about the gemlings.

He'd woken up late, as to be expected after such a late night of one heavy tale after another, and he hadn't seen Pearl since she had last entered the temple. Garnet and Amethyst were also nowhere to be found, but he supposed maybe they were visiting the gems too. It felt... a little sad that they had been put into the bubble room with all of the other gems. Especially since they were so important to his family.

He'd managed to eat a plentiful breakfast (hoping the extra food would give him enough energy to function for the rest of the day) and was just clearing the plates away when he heard the rapping of knuckles at the door.

“Steven!” Connie's voice rang from outside the screen door, and he hurriedly pulled on some clean clothes and headed down the steps to greet her. Connie stepped inside, clad in overalls and a stripy shirt. She took one look at him and gasped. “Steven, you look... not... like yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... you look exhausted,” Connie pointed out, noting the bags under his eyes. “What happened? W-Was Lapis Lazuli in your nightmares again?”

Steven shook his head.

“No, it wasn't anything like that. But I... I found something sad in the temple, and Pearl told me a story... and it took us hours.” His point was punctuated with a yawn. “Yikes. Hmm... maybe I should sleep early tonight.”

“Yeah. My mom says eight hours sleep is the absolute minimum,” Connie pointed out. “So... do you want to talk about it?”

“Huh? Why do you ask? Y-You probably wouldn't wanna hear about it anyway.”

That was a lie and he knew it – nothing excited Connie more than gem stories.

“Don't say that, I'd love to hear it! And...” She hesitated. “You look really upset about it, Steven.”

“I... I guess I am.” Sometimes Steven forgot just how well Connie could read him. He sighed, scratching his head. “It was to do with my mom. I guess I just feel bad...”

“I mean, you don't have to talk about it,” promised Connie. “B-But if you want to... I don't mind. A problem shared is a problem halved, right?”

He wasn't sure if the idiom worked in this situation, but he shrugged.

“Well, lets find a good spot on the beach first, okay? It's... kind of a long story.”

 

…

 

“Then what?”

“Well... it was really late, so she told me to go to sleep. I asked her how long it took for the third gemling to hatch and she just told me that it wasn't the right time to tell that story. So I just... went to sleep.”

Connie lay back on the sand, and gave a loud groan.

“That was so compelling! I can't believe she'd stop it there! That's like on Under The Knife when they wrapped up Kelly's surrogate pregnancy storyline without even showing us the babies! Who does that?!”

“Under The Knife?” Steven volunteered. She gave him a look that read _you know what I mean_ and he shrugged, grinning. “Sorry.”

“Well, at least you know now. I _told_ you Pearl and your mom had a thing.” Now it was Connie's turn to grin.

“How come you can always tell these things, even though I'm the one that's into the romance storylines?” he asked, joining her in laying on the ground in frustration. “I guess I just thought Pearl was passionate because she treats the past like it's better than the present and future. She idolises my mom, but so does Amethyst, and _she_ didn't have babies with my mom.”

“True.” Connie hummed in thought. “So these gems are... your sisters?”

“Half-sisters, I guess,” Steven agreed. “Though the gems _are_ my family, so I don't know how to define it. I just wish I knew more about them. There's a whole other side to my mom that I never even knew about and it scares me. If they're keeping the really good stuff a secret from me, what's all the bad stuff? How bad are things gonna get before they finally tell me?”

“Maybe they're waiting until you're older?” Connie suggested. She rolled over to face him. “My parents didn't tell me about my grandmother being terminally ill until after she was dead, because they didn't want me to be sad for our last few months together. Maybe they want to preserve your mom's memory, so they're keeping these things from you to protect you?”

“But that's like saying Mom and Pearl's love was a bad thing,” Steven said defensively. “Even Pearl seemed to talk about it that way! People get remarried all the time, isn't that like the same thing? It doesn't make _people_ less faithful, so why is it so hard for gems?”

Connie said nothing. She stared up at the sky and squinted.

“You have a good point, Steven. Maybe it wasn't just the relationship they wanted to hide, then. Maybe they knew that if you knew you'd find out about the gemlings, and they weren't ready to discuss them with you? You said they were bubbled, so... that probably means something bad happened to them.”

“Yeah, but what? And what were their names? What were they like? How am I supposed to know about them if nobody's willing to talk?”

“Well, maybe Pearl isn't, but she isn't the only crystal gem around when you sisters were alive,” pointed out Connie, and Steven gasped.

“Of course! Oh. But Amethyst didn't wanna talk to me about it before,” Steven said with a frown. “She wouldn't tell my anything about it, Pearl had to in the end.”

“But now you already know, what harm can it do for Amethyst to tell you? Or even Garnet?”

Steven considered this. It was true that he'd probably heard the worst of it – for now. Finding out what an emotional rollercoaster bringing the geodes into the world had been was hard to hear, especially when it came to Pearl's feelings, both towards his mother and the new gems. But it had ended in a good place, and even if it hurt her now, Steven hoped that this experience would will her to pay her respects, after so many years of allowing them to sit alone in the bubble room. That said, if the gems were thousands of years old, fourteen years probably didn't feel like more than a week.

“I don't know...”

“Yo Steven!”

Steven's gaze snapped up. Amethyst and Garnet had exited the temple, and were approaching him. Garnet had some sort of crusty rock in her hand and a small smile on her face.

“Hi, Amethyst, hi Garnet,” he greeted with a small wave. They strolled over and Garnet handed him the rock in her hand. When he turned it over, he saw a gaping hole in the rock, dozens of coloured crystals gathered on the inside and glinting in the light.

“A geode,” she announced with a smile.

He stood up.

“Garnet, Amethyst. Pearl told me a story last night.”

They exchanged looks.

“Uh, yeah, we gathered. She's been in the bubble room all day just holding the bubbles and talking to them,” Amethyst started, before Garnet gave her a look that shut her up quickly.

“So you know about the geodes,” Garnet stated simply. Steven nodded.

“Pearl told me a lot about how they came to be, but... she didn't go any further than that. She didn't even tell me about the last geode hatching! She didn't tell me their names, or what they were like, or what Mom was like... you know, as a mom, and...”

“And you want to know,” Garnet stated. Steven nodded.

“But Garnet, Pearl...” began Amethyst.

“Pearl wants him to know. She took a big step last night and she knows now that Steven can handle the truth.”

“I can handle it, I can handle it!” Steven promised. “But only if Pearl's okay with it. She was so scared last night.”

“Believe me, she's happy to let somebody else do the talking,” Garnet stated, her visor winking in the sunlight as she adjusted it. “I believe me and Amethyst both played sufficient roles in the story. We raised those gemlings too, you know.”

“Yeah, they were rascals,” giggled Amethyst. “Believe me, they were troublemakers. They put you to shame, Steven.”

“Well, tell me about them, then!” Steven declared. “What were their names, what were they like? Give me _something_ to go on!”

Garnet hummed, a smile of bubbled up nostalgia on her face.

“Well, I suppose you should make yourselves comfy, then. Their early days were filled with adventure.”

Steven and Connie moved into upright sitting positions, starry eyed in anticipation.

“Okay, so you know the story,” Amethyst began. “Back when a rose quartz and a pearl love each other very much...”

“Amethyst, we already know that part,” complained Steven. She honked with laughter and with a slight shake of her head fondly, Garnet took over.

“There were three geodes produced. The names of the offspring were named after the flowers Rose Quartz had grown to love on our time on Earth. The oldest was Peony, a rose quartz gemling with a stubborn streak and a strong sense of adventure. She loved fiercely, enjoyed making mischief and was near constantly begging to join her mothers and ourselves on missions.”

“Peony was fun,” Amethyst sighed wistfully. “She had so many tricks to wind up Pearl, it was like having a mini-me running around. It was a good thing Pearl loved her so much.”

“Peony,” echoed Steven, noting it down. He wished he could have seen a picture of her. “Hey, are there any paintings of the gemlings in your room or anything, Amethyst?”

“Hmm, maybe?” Amethyst frowned. “I can't remember if we ever had a portrait painted for us in that time, usually the only time we met artists was when Rose was romancing them, and she took a break from all that while they gemlings were little. She wanted to be there for them, and on top of gem duties she just didn't have the time. Plus I think she felt guilty for how she'd been treating Pearl for all those years.”

“Well, we can always go looking afterwards,” Connie suggested brightly. “And the baby pearl? What was her name?”

Garnet's smiled deepened. “The only pearl of the clutch was Ixia, a shy little gemling who despite this was just as stubborn as her sister. She had a very bad temper when she was angry, and she would always sulk for hours if she didn't have her way. Surprisingly, her and Peony rarely fought, and developed a close bond simply by existing along side each other. They were a force to be reckoned with.”

“They both sound like a handful,” laughed Connie. Amethyst nodded, a wide grin on her face.

“They were. It was hard reasoning with them sometimes, but we loved them a lot. I can't even tell you who adored them the most out of the four of us.”

“Was Mom good to them?” asked Steven. “I mean, I know she loved them but...”

“She was a great mother,” affirmed Garnet. “They both were.”

“Okay, so we've heard about the first two. Steven told me there were three, so... what about the other rose quartz?” asked Connie.

An uneasy silence filled the air.

“The, the other one?” Amethyst glanced over at Garnet, who's smile had vanished.

“Yeah, the third.” Steven was growing increasingly worried as the gems began to behave as Pearl had done last night upon being asked. “What was the youngest gemling like, guys?”

After a few more silent conversations between Amethyst and Garnet's eyes, Garnet heaved a sigh.

“...Carnation, the youngest, has a story a little harder to tell.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, a little more about the gemlings is revealed. i can't wait to write more about them, they're incredibly cute in my mind. however, the next chapter will be a while because i'm still working out plot details!! as always feel free to comment if you have any questions or want to tell me what you liked/disliked etc! happy january!


	9. Interlude II: The Language of Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My gemlings. My precious gemlings. It's been a long time.”  
> She could remember their hands, pudgy and grasping for her, begging to be held. And their high-pitched, excited voices, squealing with laughter. They were the happiest gemlings that had ever existed. That was what Rose had always said, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick interlude because I knew this scene needed to be in the fic but I had literally no other place to slip it into, now that Garnet and Amethyst have taken over. And it's ridiculously short, so it only would have worked as an interlude. This is the last one before a proper chapter, I promise.

 “Peony, Ixia... Carnation. It's me. Pearl.”

Pearl felt so silly doing this. Yet at the same time, it felt long overdue. She had removed the bubbles from their places in the burning room's ceiling atmosphere and now rested them gently on the floor in front of them. Her precious gemlings. Her throat ached with suppressed sorrow as she stared at their bubbles. They were all hers. She and Rose had bubbled them themselves.

“My gemlings. My precious gemlings. It's been a long time.”

She could remember their hands, pudgy and grasping for her, begging to be held. And their high-pitched, excited voices, squealing with laughter. They were the happiest gemlings that had ever existed. That was what Rose had always said, anyway.

“I know I haven't visited in a while, it's just... Steven has been growing up, you know? He's needed me, like you once needed me. And last night I told him all about you. So, I'm sorry. I know ever since Rose left, neither of us have been around. I don't know if Garnet or Amethyst ever visited you, either. I'm really sorry that we left you alone.”

Pearl took a deep breath, knowing it was impossible to keep these tears from falling.

“I'm also, so sorry for... for what happened to you. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have let you go.”

The bubbles remained voiceless.

“I should have been more careful,” she went on, head bowed. “And now Steven's asking about you... asking what you were like, and – and when he hears what happened to you-”

Her breath hitched, and she sobbed.

“...He's going to hate me so much...”

They only gave her silence.

Pearl scrubbed at her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “I'm sorry. It's been hundreds of years, but it still hurts, you know?”

When her vision was no longer blurring, she blinked hard and projected from her gem. She envisioned Peony first, since she had always been the easiest of the three for her mind to conjure, from her simplistic general appearance to the way she walked and gestured, wild excited eyes staring out. Of course, the Peony that Pearl conjured was a copy, an unfeeling thing that stared at her blankly. Her child form stuck out to Pearl the most, given she had hardly been there upon full maturity. A wild mane of curls sat coiled atop her head in the most elaborate ponytail Pearl had ever seen. She put Opal to shame, that was for sure.

“Peony,” she murmured. The projection stared back, before mouthing one word.

_Ixia._

“She's coming, Peony, she's coming,” Pearl said shakily, more to herself than the hologram. Ixia came next, fluffy hair not quite coming to life in her projections like it had in life. Ixia stood beside the hologram of Peony, equally cold and emotionless as her Holo-Pearls. Ixia was a little harder to conjure than Peony, simply because Pearl had spent so much time in her life trying to avoid looking at her. One thing she distinctly remembered was the eyes she possessed, deep and dark just like Rose's, that would constantly bear into her, as if willing Pearl to take a closer look. If Ixia was here with her now, maybe she would.

“I'm so sorry,” Pearl said again. “My gemlings. My poor gemlings.”

They stood and watched her. Pearl couldn't make them act the way she wanted, not anymore. Digging up memories of how they used to circle around the warp pad in a fruitless chase, shrieking with laughter, or cradled in Rose's arms begging for a story (better than the story of the glass ghost, since Peony was no longer scared of it even if Ixia and Amethyst continued to be)... it was almost more painful than memories of Rose. At least, when it came to Rose, the decision to leave was her own.

“Please believe me. I'm so sorry.”

When she glanced at Carnation's bubble, she burst into tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk how soon the next chapter will be out because (amazingly) I haven't actually planned all that much for this fic in a while, but I'm hoping to have chapter 7 up by the end of summer. As per usual guys, please leave a comment if you feel like, and I hope everyone's been doing great since the last time I updated.


	10. Carnation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So tell me about the babies,” Steven said quickly. “You know, tell me about what happened afterwards!”  
> “Afterwards?” Amethyst echoed, happy to go along with the almost change of subject. “You gotta be more specific than that, guy. How much did Pearl get round to telling you last night?”  
> Steven thought hard. “Well, Pearl stopped the story after the part where they started eating her skin.”  
> Amethyst burst out laughing.  
> “Aw, man, I remember that! She looked like – you know that movie you made us watch, with the vampires-”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO. AH. IT'S 2018. ALMOST 2 YEARS SINCE MY LAST UPDATE  
> What am I still doing updating this fic, you say?? Well like a week ago I got a couple reviews on this fic suddenly, and I mean, virtually no one checks this fic out anymore, so I was surprised. And then I was like, hey, might as well re-read for nostalgia reasons. Then I was like hey, I liked the layout of this fic a lot and even though its outdated as fuck I still kinda wanna finish this story... so here we are.  
> I make no promises I'll EVER finish this story, because even though I have an outline, we're at the gemlings' infancy right now and I had it mapped out with the fic ending when they had reached near adulthood, so... yeah. It'll take some time, and with more and more Homeworld stuff and gem backgrounds being learned every time a new stevenbomb drops, it's hard to keep shit consistent. I considered doing a rewrite but, honestly I don't think I have time. I might go back and edit a few things that don't make sense anymore, but otherwise I'll be keeping it the same in all its weirdness.  
> Big thanks to Bea and Capitola for reviewing and reminding me this fic exists and people still care about it? Seriously, I was so close to being done all that time ago, but your reviews gave me the final push to finish this damn chapter already.  
> FINALLY... NO MORE TEASING... YALL GET TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO CARNATION AFTER ALL THIS DAMN TIME

“So tell me about the babies,” Steven said quickly, after waiting for Garnet to elaborate further on Carnation and receiving no response. Garnet and Amethyst had started to act strange again upon his mention of the third gemling, and he didn't like it one bit. “You know, tell me about what happened afterwards!”

“Afterwards?” Amethyst echoed, happy to go along with the almost change of subject. “You gotta be more specific than that, guy. How much did Pearl get round to telling you last night?”

Steven thought hard. “Well, Pearl stopped the story after the part where they started eating her skin.”

Amethyst burst out laughing.

“Aw, man, I remember that! She looked like – you know that movie you made us watch, with the vampires-”

“Dusk?” Connie offered.

“Yeah, that one. Where their skin goes all shimmery in sunlight? That's what Pearl looked like _all the time_ when she was making gem milk. It was hilarious. If you put a candle to her she'd actually glimmer.”

“Which I recall you doing once or twice,” Garnet added with a smile. “She wasn't happy about it at all.”

Amethyst shapeshifted into Pearl in an outfit from long ago, complete with the shimmering skin. “Oh, Amethyst, you'll scare the little ones!” she piped up in an eerily accurate imitation of Pearl's voice, hands on her hips. “Don't you have somewhere else you can burn off that energy? Fooling around in the presence of impressionable gemlings will only make them mimic you in the future!”

“Well, she wasn't wrong,” Garnet said knowingly, putting a hand on Amethyst's shoulder. “Shift back, please.”

Amethyst did so with a slight roll of the eyes.

“Guess so. Do you think she blamed me for them turning to a life of mischief and pranking?”

“Amethyst, we all did,” Garnet said bluntly, and Amethyst cracked a grin.

“Fair enough, we did. Even me.”

“Story, please?” begged Steven. “I want to know more so I can get in on these jokes!”

Garnet nodded and sat down beside Steven, and Amethyst followed suit. “All right, then. We'll tell you some stories of their childhoods, but I have to warn you – while there are many happy memories, the beginning is rather unfortunate.” She hesitated. “We can't really hide it from you if we start to tell their stories, so... it's all right to feel sad about it, or to feel indifferent about it. You didn't know them personally, so no one will expect you to react in one way or another.”

Steven frowned. “I'm ready, Garnet. What happened to them?”

Garnet sighed. “Well, nothing happened right away... and then a few weeks passed.”

 

…

 

“I can't stop looking at them,” Rose murmured to Garnet one afternoon, as Pearl sat across from them on a woven chair they had purchased from the human markets. She had a gemling in each arm, both of which were suckling contentedly at exposed areas of her skin. She looked pretty tired, but there was an odd fondness there. The gemlings themselves seemed oblivious to the chilly ocean breeze, instead finding comfort in the cool darkness of the temple's cave walls. “They look so peaceful. Like they were always meant to be.”

“She's taken to it more quickly than I anticipated,” Garnet agreed. “Pearl didn't seem too keen on the idea of feeding the gemlings to begin with, but it looks like something she's adapted to quickly.”

“I'm glad. I'm really glad.”

Pearl seemed determined to sit there until the gemlings had suckled every last droplet from her skin, given that she had soon grown tired of leaving a trail of milk wherever she went. Unfortunately, the gemlings could only drink so much at a time, and quickly Ixia grew tired from drinking and started to whine.

“I'll take over, Pearl,” Rose said quickly, picking up the grouchy baby and holding her to her shoulder. She rubbed the gemling's back gently and coaxed up a soft hiccup. “Very good, Ixia. Very good.”

“Peony seems to have more of a taste for this stuff,” Pearl said with a tired smile, reaching down to stroke her daughter's wild mane of curls as she drank enthusiastically.

“Well, make sure she doesn't overdo it. I recall you weren't fond of the last time she got sick from having too much at once,” Rose teased. Upon that reminder, Pearl gently tugged Peony away and sat her on her lap, patting her back with caution until she gave a small burp.

“There, that's much better,” Pearl decided. Her expression waned a little and she sighed, continuing to pat Peony's back. “Has the third geode made any progress yet?”

Rose frowned. “No... not that I know of. Amethyst is keeping watch right now, but her shift's almost over. I'll take over for her soon. If anything happens, you'll be the first to know, I promise.”

“I don't like how long she's taking,” Pearl admitted. “It shouldn't be taking _this_ long, should it?”

Garnet agreed, though she hadn't voiced these thoughts aloud yet. It had been over a month since the geodes had been extracted, and nearly a week since Peony and Ixia had hatched, so to speak, so surely the third geode should have matured enough to hatch by now? It was true that some gems birthed duds, if their gems couldn't cope with the strain – one would be sacrificed to keep the others going, and its nutrient supply would be cut off without the knowledge of the carrier gem. Typically, if any of the gems had been duds, it should have been Ixia – as harsh as that sounded, and the very thought voiced in her head was enough to make Garnet's hands flex anxiously. Since pearls were softer than quartzes, it hardly made sense that Ixia had come out perfectly healthy while they were still waiting on the second rose quartz egg to hatch.

Nobody had seen a pearl carry before, or if they had it had certainly never been documented in Homeworld's libraries (Sapphire had read most of the logs in Blue Diamond's personal library, the biggest of the four, before coming to Earth, and there had been nothing relating to pearls and gestation in any of the files that either her or Garnet could remember) – so it was unclear how the geodes would turn out. In all honesty, she had been surprised that Pearl had produced two rose quartz geodes, and although she had decided to keep this to herself for now, she was beginning to doubt that this geode would form.

“Some geodes take longer than others,” Garnet finally said decidedly. “We can't assume the worst just yet. Geodes will vary based on many factors of their gestation, as well as their gem type and incubation environment. She might just be a slow bloomer.”

“We can hope,” sighed Rose. She started with a gasp as Ixia spit up a small trail of milk down the back of her shoulder and grizzled, threatening tears. “Oh, dear. No need to cry, okay, baby? You're okay now.”

As Rose rocked the small pearl gemling to her chest, Garnet caught Pearl watching Ixia with an emotion she couldn't describe. Guilt, perhaps? If Garnet had to pick an emotion, it would be the embodiment of survivour's guilt, if it were possible to inflict that guilt onto somebody else. The very idea gave her a surge of protectiveness for that gemling. Ixia hadn't asked to be born. The circumstances of her birth were in no way her fault, and yet Garnet knew somehow that it would turn into that as long as Pearl carried her Homeworld conditioning deep within her.

“Pearl.”

“Huh?” Pearl glanced up, dragged from her thoughts and looking slightly dazed.

“Peony wants you,” Garnet said coolly, motioning to the baby trying to reach for a patch of skin that she hadn't yet managed to suckle dry. Pearl looked down and quickly scooped Peony up, supporting her rump as she lifted her up to the section of skin beneath her collarbone that Peony was ambling after.

“Oh, there you go, Peony. It's all right.”

“I can take over watching the geode,” Garnet volunteered, heading towards the temple door.

“Garnet, are you sure?” Rose called. “It's no trouble...”

“It's fine.” She offered a smile. “Besides, you and Ixia look very cute together. I wouldn't want to break up a pair.”

Rose's face split into a grin and she peeked down at Ixia, who was treading her sleepily.

“We do make a cute pair, don't we?”

Garnet huffed out a laugh, before activating her door to the temple and stepping inside.

 

 

…

 

Connie raised her hand.

“Question?”

“Shoot,” said Amethyst.

“Um, Steven told me before that gems have to shapeshift organs? And they have to concentrate really hard on it? How were the babies ingesting milk if they didn't know how to do that yet?”

Steven found it bizarre that Connie had only been focusing on the scientific side of the story as opposed to the drama that was unfolding in the current narrative, and he chewed the inside of his cheek to stop himself from begging to know what was taking Carnation so long.

“Gem milk isn't like human milk, Connie.” Garnet grabbed a stick of driftwood and began carving shapes into the ground. Soon, a basic outline of a small body was in the sand. The same default chest gem was added with a pebble. “The milk Pearl was producing wasn't to feed them, but to provide them with mineral supplements. They would ingest the milk, but it would simply sit inside of them until it had been distilled into the gem. They wouldn't require a digestive system because they wouldn't be digesting it, the minerals in the milk would simply soak into the gem and strengthen it, which in turn would strengthen the physical body.”

“I don't get it. Are they completely hollow? Where would all the milk go before absorbing into the gem?” Connie frowned, clearly trying to make sense of it.

As Garnet launched into a full blown explanation of gem biology, Steven sat silently and took time to think. He knew a little more about Peony and Ixia now, what they were like and so on. But Carnation remained a mystery, and he was starting to get a sinking feeling why. He tuned back in just as Garnet drew a large square in the torso of the figure. “So that's the default organ in gemlings used to filter the minerals into the gem. Does that make sense?”

“Guys, come on, enough sciencey stuff!” complained Steven. “There's a time and a place! Why was Carnation taking so long to form? Please tell me already!”

Amethyst glanced at Garnet, her smirk long gone.

“Steven... Carnation wasn't like the others.” Amethyst's voice was sombre, and she sighed, raking a hand through her mane of hair and mussing it up distractedly. “The thing is... well...”

“Sometimes things don't work out like you think they will.” Garnet took off her visor, and Steven immediately knew just how serious this was. “Your mother and Pearl really took all the necessary measures to keep the gemlings healthy. They did. But sometimes that's not enough. And sometimes... bad things happen.”

“Tell me,” he murmured. “Please, guys.”

“It was a big mistake,” muttered Amethyst. “But it wasn't your fault, G.”

“I know that,” Garnet said evenly, but Steven detected a hint of regret in her voice. “But I should have told them sooner, before what happened. I just... didn't know how.”

 

…

 

“Slow shift?” Garnet asked as Amethyst blinked awake from her nap. She stretched.

“Mm, yeah. Little Rosie Two here isn't budging, as usual.” Amethyst glanced back at the geode, calm as ever, and frowned. “She's taking her sweet time, G. Are we sure she's not... you know, a dud?”

Garnet said nothing.

“Well, screw this. It's your turn to watch over them now.” Amethyst hopped to her feet and folded her arms. “They're only fun when they're squeaking and eating Pearl's skin.”

Garnet shrugged. “That's just life, Amethyst.”

“Heh. Yeah.”

Amethyst headed back towards her room, groggy and tired from another long shift of absolutely nothing happening, when she felt the smallest of presences at her side. Whipping around, and then seeing nothing there, she frowned. Weird. Maybe she was just hallucinating after spending so long by herself on that egg-watching shift.

With a shrug, she carried on her way, kicking stray pebbles along the path until she reached the edge of her room. Ahh, junk as far as the eye could see. What more could she ask for?

Flopping down face-first into an old mattress, she let out a deep sigh and let her mind wander, eyes fluttering closed as she allowed herself to drift back into an afternoon nap again.

Amethyst woke with a start, what could only have been about twenty minutes later, to a distinct shout from deep into the temple. Garnet.

“Garnet?” Amethyst sat up immediately. If it were Pearl squawking she probably would have brushed it off as her dropping something down one of Amethyst's fountains (again), but Garnet genuinely had no reason to yell, so her first thought was maybe the gemling was finally ready to hatch, and she was trying to alert the others. Selfishly, Amethyst bounded ahead on her own first, wanting to see for herself before raising the alarm.

If only it had been that simple.

Amethyst bounded up the corridor, thinking to herself, _finally! No more egg-watching shifts!_ Her smile vanished immediately upon hearing a loud crash coming from the Heart.

“Garnet?!” Amethyst skidded into the archway and stared. Garnet was backed up against the surface of the Heart, and smoke was steadily rising with a hiss as her body remained in contact. Her teeth were gritted, and she was holding out her arms defensively.

“Amethyst, watch yourself! There's a gem monster!”

“Huh? Gem monster?!” Amethyst peered around the room and saw nothing. “Where is it?!”

“It's invisible,” ground out Garnet. “It's got me pinned!”

That would explain the skid marks leading to Garnet's feet, then. Amethyst instinctively reached for her whip, and flung it out, hoping she was aiming in the right direction. The whip hit something all right – something that let out a shriek and headed straight for her. Amethyst yelped when it made contact with her, butting her back into the wall with a crunch. She slumped down, winded momentarily, and she breathed heavily as she watched Garnet peel herself away from the Heart. If she didn't have a heat-resistant component residing in her, the intense heat would have likely poofed her.

“Garnet, what do we do?!” Amethyst staggered to her feet and glanced around wildly, letting out a startled scream when Garnet was tossed into the air and smacked heavily into one of the connecting tubes to the Crystal Heart.

“Take the geode and get out of here!” Garnet barked. “Get it to Rose! It isn't safe here!”

“B-But-”

“Now, Amethyst!”

Garnet landed on her feet as she hopped down. Amethyst did two things impulsively that were probably the biggest mistakes: she lunged at the Heart without listening out for the creature, and she looked back at Garnet, hesitated, before reaching for the geode.

For one fateful moment she felt herself be tossed up into the air, an invisible tentacle having grabbed her leg and flung her like dough. Then came the lethal crush of tentacles around her torso, and her physical form gave out with splendour, stunning the creature momentarily with its brilliance as she poofed. Her gem fell to the floor with a loud clack, and Garnet screeched, “Don't!” as the geode was grabbed from the Heart.

Garnet leaped, intending to land on the creature while it was distracted, but it recoiled from the intense heat of the Heart and stumbled back. She reached out to grab the geode from its grasp and missed by mere inches, letting out a cry of horror as it snarled and the surface of the geode cracked.

“NO!”

If only the Crystal Heart was accessible by the temple door. If only her voice had carried a little further, maybe Rose would have heard it. Maybe they could have done something, or... maybe they could have at least taken the geode somewhere safe while Garnet contained the gem.

Powder began seeping through the thick crack, and she let out a strangled sound. It was like she thought. The creature crunched the gem between its sharp teeth, and Garnet's third eye overflowed before she could help herself. She launched herself at the creature, gauntlets raised, and threw a punch at it with all of her might. The creature let out a startled screech and stumbled back, the geode dropping from its mouth and lying there, cracked open and still leaking congealed powder.

The creature then threw itself at Garnet, angered by her aggressiveness, and she felt herself come apart as a tentacle crushed her head, essentially bursting it. She fell apart in a billowing cloud of smoke, and Ruby and Sapphire dropped to the floor with a groan. Immediately Ruby charged, boxer glove out, and her eyes were overflowing with tears as she delivered blow after blow to the corrupted gem. It screeched in pain after the fifth strike and backed away, only to explode into a plume of smoke just a few moments later, a chalcedony hitting the floor with a loud clack as a familiar whip retreated. Amethyst, having reformed in the midst of the mounting chaos, had located its gem and secured a whip, tugging it away from the physical form until it had simply been able to hold the wavering connection. One of the most painful of ways for an ordinary gem to be poofed, but Amethsyt figured it was fine since it did the trick.

Her eyes fell on Sapphire, who was knelt before the ruined geode, and let out a scream upon seeing its cracked outer layer and the spilling powder. Her first instinct was to run for help.

Amethyst stumbled out of the Crystal Heart and towards the temple door, screeching for Rose, or Pearl, or _anyone._ She ran straight out of the temple and into Rose's waiting arms, sobbing.

“Amethyst?!” Rose peered at her, startled. “Amethyst, what happened?!”

“The geode!” Amethyst wailed. “Oh, god, the _geode,_ Rose...”

Amethyst's form was strange, the telltale sign of a rushed reform, and the panic in her eyes was genuine.

“What happened?!” Pearl was also at her feet, holding both gemlings in her arms as they began to snuffle, disturbed by the sudden loud noises.

“We have to go back! You have to fix it, Rose!” cried Amethyst, and Rose charged past immediately, carnal fear resting in the pit of her gem.

When she arrived at the bubble room, Ruby and Sapphire were clinging to each other, and Sapphire was crying. Rose saw the mangled geode and she cried out in horror, falling to her knees in front of it.

“No, no, no!!”

“Rose, you can fix it, right?” begged Amethyst. “You can fix it, please! Can't you? Please, Rose-”

“How did this happen?!” Rose cried, turning between the three of them. Tears, running down from her face, were having no effect on the geode. “What caused this?”

“There was a gem creature,” Ruby finally managed to say. “We, we tried to stop it, but it was invisible, and it was strong. It poofed Amethyst, and then it poofed Garnet, and, and we got it, but we were – we were too late-”

She hiccuped and held out the bubbled chalcedony as proof. Rose clapped a hand over her mouth, her entire body shaking with sobs.

“My gemling... my gemling...”

Pearl was stood over them, staring down at the ruined geode with wide, unbelieving eyes. The gemlings, unaware of what was going on, were mewling for her attention, wriggling around in her arms. Rose looked up and wept.

“Oh, Pearl...”

Pearl began to shake as she spoke.

“She was already gone, though, wasn't she?”

Amethyst looked up at her through puffy eyes.

“What?”

“You two _knew_ she wasn't going to form,” Pearl accused, staring down at Ruby and Sapphire, “you knew, didn't you?! But you didn't do anything – you couldn't just tell us before this happened?!”

“Pearl?” cried Rose, reaching up towards her. “Pearl, what are you talking about?”

“The p-powder,” Pearl spat, eyes welling up, “the powder is congealed. If she was forming properly, why would it look like that?!”

Rose stared, not even flinching when Peony crawled from Pearl's arms and into the sanctuary of Rose's hair.

“I... I don't understand,” she said again, desperately. “If Garnet had predicted this, she wouldn't have...”

“We did know,” choked out Sapphire. Rose turned to her, so quickly Peony let out an indignant squeak. Sapphire was clutching the remainder of the geode in her hands, and her tears were leaking steadily from beneath her fringe. “Well... we knew she probably wasn't going to form. We just... wanted to hold onto hope, we didn't want to believe it. Garnet was j-just trying to be hopeful, she had no idea that this attack was going to t-take place...”

Rose croaked out, “You knew?”

Ruby and Sapphire lowered their heads in shame.

“Oh, Rose,” sobbed Ruby, scrubbing at her eyes. “Rose, Pearl, we're so sorry this happened... G-Garnet tried to stop it, I swear she did...”

Amethyst lowered her head, and sobbed.

 

…

 

Steven had tears in his eyes.

“They blamed you?” he cried. “But you didn't know what would happen!”

He pressed his hands into his eyes, shoulders shaking as he tried to stop crying. He thought long and hard about Carnation, or rather the geode that should have become Carnation. It would explain the large spiderweb cracks he had seen on one of the gems in the bubble, at least. They'd bubbled her shell, hadn't they?

“You didn't know that it was going to happen,” Connie protested. “It was wrong of them to blame you, Garnet.”

Garnet reached beneath her visor to sweep away a tear.

“I should have looked harder. If I had seen that monster coming...”

“But it was invisible, there was no way you could have seen it!” Connie said quickly. Amethyst punched the sand.

“See, this is why we don't talk about Carnation!” she snapped. “It becomes a fight of who to blame! It happened, okay?! And it wasn't your fault, Garnet! It wasn't Pearl's either, or Rose's! Or mine! It was just a bad thing that happened that we can't change! Might as well move on!”

Steven would have thought she was being cruel if he hadn't spotted the way her hands were shaking. Of course Amethyst cared about what happened. Amethyst used anger as a coping mechanism, and it was clear to him now that Carnation's death had shaken them up a lot.

“I'm sorry I had to tell you about that,” Garnet said solemnly. “But you have to understand that Carnation's death impacted on how Rose and Pearl treated Peony and Ixia. They had already lost one of their gemlings – they couldn't risk losing another.”

_Too bad,_ thought Steven bitterly. _They're in the bubble room now, so it must have happened anyway._

“Were they controlling?” asked Connie worriedly. She knew a thing or two about how that could impact on a child's development.

Garnet shook their head. “They weren't controlling, just very protective over them. They couldn't go on missions until they were almost fully grown. I recall Peony trying to sneak along on missions a few times.”

Connie hesitated, before asking quietly, “Did they blame you completely? Or did Rose and Pearl see reason?”

“They saw reason, in the end,” Garnet assured. She removed her visor to wipe it clean, and Steven caught a glimpse of the look of weariness in her eyes. “Of course, it took time for them to recover enough to forgive me. Pearl was beating herself up for a long time after that.”

“What do you mean?” Steven asked. Garnet sighed and put the visor back on.

“...When a carrier isn't strong enough to provide for their geodes, one geode will be cut off from receiving the necessary energy from the carrier's gem to survive, so that the others can grow as intended. It doesn't usually happen because usually the physically stronger gem will carry, but in Pearl's case, Carnation was unknowingly cut off. I couldn't tell for sure, and I didn't want to worry them, which is why I didn't explain this process at the time. I caused a lot of trouble for the team.”

“You just wanted her to be okay,” Steven protested, tears filling his eyes. “You didn't know Carnation was going to end up like that!”

Garnet looked down and muttered, “Steven, sometimes things don't work out like you expect them to. Sometimes bad things happen and they are your fault, and you can't change them. And you can't justify them because they were your mistakes.”

“But you didn't know-”

“That's the way it was, Steven.” Garnet sighed. “Even if I didn't mean it.”

 

…

 

The temple was silent, aside from the odd small cries from Peony. Ixia was asleep, nestled against Rose's chest, and Peony was colicky and whining as Pearl bounced her in between feeds, trying to get her to rest. It seemed they could both read the atmosphere of the temple better than their mothers had hoped, as they had been restless for days following the attack. Ixia had finally tired herself out, but Peony was still inconsolable. Pearl wouldn't be surprised if they felt the death of their sister, even though she reasoned that they were far too young to recognise a being without sentience as their sibling.

“I was thinking,” Rose said into the dullness of the night, “we could name her Carnation.”

“What's the point in naming a being that never lived?” Pearl deadpanned. “She never had a subconscious. She never existed as an individual. She was just – just leftover silicon from our fusion.”

“Pearl!” Rose admonished in a hushed voice, careful not to jostle Ixia as she slept. She made a show of her displeasure, and Pearl glared at the floor. “She was ours. We – we _loved_ her. We still do.”

“I won't,” muttered Pearl. “It's painful. I won't.”

“I still want to give her a name,” Rose said firmly, resting her cheek against the tiny lick of fluff atop Ixia's head. It was soft and felt real, and to Rose it felt like a lifeline, keeping her from leaping upwards into space and far away from here until the pain lessened. “She was still our gemling. Carnations are... well, the French humans consider carnations to be a funeral flower symbolising a lost love-”

“You and your star-forsaken humans!”

Rose flinched back at the sudden volume as Pearl stood up abruptly. Her outburst sent Peony into more spluttering sobs, and Pearl began to shake.

“And _you!_ I've told you time and time again, that is enough! Quieten down this instant! You have no place to be so emotional!”

Peony continued to cry, unaware that she was even being scolded, and Rose stood too.

“Give her to me, Pearl. You need to calm down.”

Pearl held Peony out, arms trembling, and Rose carefully took her in. As Peony fussed, Ixia awoke too and began to grizzle.

“Humans might love carnations, they might drown their dead in flowers! Gems don't!” Pearl snarled, feeling the familiar stinging of tears building up. _Stupid, stupid._ “They don't name their duds, Rose! They move on!”

“I want to grieve for her,” Rose snapped, turning away. “I want to keep her memory with me! I don't care if you think I'm foolish, but I don't think you do. I think you're _hurting_ and you need some space, so _please,_ Pearl, do what you must to find some inner peace. I'm staying with our gemlings and giving our third daughter a name.”

Pearl stared hard at the back of Rose's head, begging with her eyes for Rose to turn around and pull her into a bone-crushing hug, just to let her know that things would be okay eventually. But she stayed put, gently talking to Peony and Ixia, pleading with them to sleep in a voice that held the endless patience a mother gem _should_ have. It just made Pearl feel worse.

Wordlessly, she fled to the warp and found herself on a familiar battlefield. As she trudged towards her usual spot, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of Garnet sat on the ledge overlooking the fields below, strawberries and weapons strewn around, a time capsule of the moments before corruption destroyed gemkind on Earth in the blink of an eye, a four note song.

“You don't usually come here,” she said. “This is typically my spot to grieve.”

She tried to make her voice sound light, but it came out hoarse and strangled. Part of her wanted to hate Garnet. She really did. Keeping that kind of information to herself, lying about the condition of their third geode as if she didn't know... it felt unforgivable. But she was so tired, and in the midst of losing the closest thing to family she'd ever known, the thought of Garnet hating her as well was too much.

Garnet turned around to face her, removing her visor. Her eyes were tired, puffy from a few days worth of tears, and trained on Pearl.

“After what happened, I've been thinking of Ruby and Sapphire's gemlings,” she murmured. “Coming here helps me feel close to them.”

Pearl took a few steps forward, sniffling, and lowered herself down to sit beside Garnet.

“I don't... I don't blame you for the attack, Garnet,” she said in a small voice. “It would be counterproductive, and, and I understand that regardless, the geode wouldn't have formed a live gemling.”

“I should have told you,” Garnet said simply, letting out a shaky breath. “I should have just been honest with the both of you that the third gem wasn't going to form. But I didn't want to admit it to myself.”

Pearl began to cry openly, staring up at the moon as she so often did when she came here on hard nights to reminisce about the war. She hadn't often cried for fallen comrades after battles, it simply wasn't done when there was still so much to do during the rebellion. It was mostly after the corruption bomb, when it seemed like every day more gems were self-destructing into creatures they barely recognised, that she would cry. They had given everything to achieving their dream, a life to live freely after the war, and what had they gotten?

At the very least, Pearl had hoped things would be different with their gemlings. No more grief. No more sorrows. And yet, after just a few weeks, one was a dud and the others were insufferable to be around.

“Garnet, is it my fault the third one didn't survive?”

She felt Garnet's eyes burning into her, searching for the right answer to give.

“Pearl,” she began, but that single word was all she needed to hear.

“Don't try and make me feel better, Garnet,” she spat. “Tell me the truth. Is it my fault? Did I do this? Did I cause this pain?”

“It isn't up to you,” Garnet said sharply. “Pearls aren't made to carry, and yet you did. You and Rose created two perfectly healthy, complete, alive gemlings. That in itself is an amazing thing.”

“I failed the third,” Pearl pointed out, bringing her knees up to rest her forehead against. “She's a dud because of me.”

“You couldn't control what would happen,” Garnet reasoned. She reached over to squeeze Pearl's shoulder. “It was never your choice to make. You couldn't control whether one of the gems would be cut off. Rose knows this too.”

“If it had been Ixia...”

“Don't.”

Garnet stood quickly, and Pearl unfurled herself, staring up at Garnet through teary eyes.

“Don't hold her accountable for what happened to the third,” Garnet said firmly, sternly. “Ixia is her own gem and she deserves better than her own mother holding her responsible for the other rose quartz gemling.”

“But...” Pearl faltered, shakily rising to her feet. “But Ixia is a _pearl,_ she shouldn't have been able to-”

“Do you remember what you told me when I first joined the Crystal Gems?” Garnet interrupted, all three eyes watching her accusingly. “You said you wanted to liberate all pearls. You never held them inferior to you, you never blamed them as a gem class for what they endured. Something changed between the start of the war and the end, because now you're placing the responsibility of a dud's survival onto a pearl who has been alive for just a fleeting moment.”

Pearl stared at Garnet disbelievingly, shaking her head.

“That – that has nothing to do with how I feel, Garnet!”

“Whether you blame it on Ixia or on the slight misshapenness of your pearl is irrelevant.” Garnet turned and began to walk back towards the warp pad. “When you value the both of you like you valued all pearls at the beginning of the war, we'll have this conversation again. But I won't allow for Ixia to lead her life feeling defective because of how you view yourself.”

She waited until she reached the warp pad to look back, and found Pearl staring distantly after her, running her hands through her hair. When she didn't follow, Garnet warped, leaving her alone amongst the strawberries and swords.

 

…

 

“You left her there?” Steven cried, incredulous. Garnet nodded stiffly.

“It was for the best. I had said what I needed to say to her. She needed time to reflect for herself.”

“Yeah dude, G was just being real with her,” Amethyst agreed, looking uncomfortable. “You know what Pearl can get like. Stuck in her own head.”

That was true. Still, Steven felt it was a little harsh leaving her to her thoughts when she was at her lowest.

“So Pearl struggled to love Ixia... because she had bad self-esteem?” Connie asked, resting her chin in her hands. “Why would she blame Ixia for something she couldn't help?”

Garnet stayed silent for a few moments, deliberating on how much she could say.

“Pearl has... endured a lot in her lifetime,” she said at last. “Homeworld is responsible for her feelings of worthlessness, and though she served under a high ranking gem during her time there, she was often criticised for her gem being ovular instead of perfectly spherical. There are a lot of things that went on that I still don't know about, because she refuses to talk about it.”

“Guess Rose was the only one that knew everything about what she went through,” Amethyst commented, eyes cast downward. “They kept it under wraps. At the time I thought they just liked having secrets only they knew so they could baby me, but... it was rough for her, whatever went on there. That's why she found it hard to like Ixia.”

Steven stared down at his gem.

“I wonder what she would have looked like.”

“Carnation?” Amethyst thought hard. “Well... you remember the amethysts we met at the zoo, right? Me and you and Rose, we're all from the same side of the family. Chances are, Carnation would have looked like your everyday run-of-the-mill quartz. Big hair, tall and broad – though, since she never formed, maybe she would have been smaller...”

She folded her arms, looking conflicted, and Garnet cut in.

“It's not wise to focus on what could have been. Carnation never formed, so we'll never know.”

“I guess.” Steven frowned, rubbing at his eyes. They had since dried, but he couldn't deny that learning about Carnation had taken a lot out of him emotionally. “Please tell me things started getting better from there, at least.”

“Oh, sure,” Amethyst drawled. “Nothing but happy families from here on out, Steve-o.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this was anticlimatic. I hope it wasn't but I don't know. Were people expecting something worse to happen? Or for Carnation to be a gemling and then something worse to happen? I don't know, but I don't exactly love writing about baby death or anything, so this is what yall got instead.  
> I... still don't think this will have a consistent update schedule or anything. Just occasionally when I have time to. Thanks so much if anyone still reads after all this time, it means a lot. <3


End file.
